Persuasion is a definite aspect of education, both in a professor’s teaching methods and the students’ assignments for the teacher. Professors use various techniques of persuasion to influence and impart knowledge to their students on the subjects in which they are an authority to change their beliefs or attitudes towards those topics. The social psychologist Robert Cialdini (2003) discusses six principles of persuasion which are often used by people in everyday life whether unconsciously or consciously. It seems that the current theoretical and empirical studies on these principles of persuasion and various other “processes makes available to instructors a technology for systematically altering the nature of people’s beliefs and actions” (Friedrich …show more content…
From the very first class, Professor X demonstrated the technique of likeability, the concept that if a person accomplishes the feat of getting others to like them and feel like they know that person, than people are more likely to be persuaded by that person (Cialdini, 2003). Professor X intended to be humorous as well as relatable, mostly through discussing recent undergraduate experiences similar to the classes’ own college experiences, so that the students would enjoy the class and therefore work hard in the future to reciprocate by doing the work well and in a timely …show more content…
They instead would use commitment. Professor A used likeability in a very similar way to Professor X. They use humor often in class as a way to humanize themselves and gain trust from students. This increases their likeability and makes the students more likely do perform well in their class. Professor A also will take time out of their day and talk to students. They will ask about other classes and their own; making the students feel that Professor A cares about their well-being. This increases the students drive to do well in Professor A's classes because they don't want to let down a teacher that they