Coercive force is particularly useful in situations of imminent danger. The parent watching a child run toward a busy intersection does not caress, cajole, or offer a reward. The most likely response is a physical one, born of the parent’s physical advantage….
Louis Kriesberg offers a succinct definition that captures the essence of coercive power: “Coercion involves trying to make the other side yield by reason of fear or actual force.”
In most treatments of power, this chapter would form the entire discussion. Coercion and force are often used as synonyms of power, and all too often are seen as the only type of power.
Persuasion is a cost-effective way of approaching many conflicts. It does not require weapons or high-tech (and high-cost) research. When it works, therefore, it is a great boon. The protagonist has gotten his counterpart to change her or his behavior in a desired direction at little cost.
Kriesberg refers to appeals to common values and norms. Such appeals are often referred to as appeals to conscience. Appeals may also be made to the other’s emotions or to data and logic.
While each of these principles is supported by both systematic and anecdotal evidence, it is not always clear how one might utilize the principles in a particular relationship or encounter. Louis Kriesberg suggests five ways in which one party might influence another in moving toward resolution of a dispute…
Social-influence scholars have developed a variety of ways of categorizing the mechanisms through which people persuade others to change their behavior. Robert B. Cialdini’s Influence: Science and Practice is one such resource.
Faced with an adversary who is doing something we do not like, or who is not doing something we wish to have done, persuasion can be an invaluable tool. Though “power” is generally considered to be coercion or force, persuasion can be powerful too, as is evidenced by the common saying, “the power of persuasion.”
