Friendship, Power and the Language of Compliance-Gaining

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Abstract
This study examines the impact of degree of friendship between actor and target, power of the target, and identity of the primary beneficiary of compliance on the selection of persuasive message strategies. As predicted, the nature of the relationship and power of the target interacted to influence strategy selection. With targets who were acquaintances of the actor, the probability of employing persuasive messages strategies decreased as the power of the target increased. With targets who were friends of the actor, the probability of strategy utilisation decreased as the power of the target decreased. No effects involving the identity of the beneficiary of compliance were obtained.