Influential People

Influencing people is an art, but even art is measured by scientists' yardsticks nowadays. Last week a psychologist reduced to statistics some surprising facts about the subtle art of changing people's minds through discussion. Dr. Ray H. Simpson, an instructor in Barnard College, made a study of Those Who Influence and Those Who Are Influenced in Discussions.* His guinea pigs were 185 college girls (Dr. Simpson says his findings would probably have been similar if the subjects had been men.) He determined their opinions on many issues, then formed groups of four students each, with differing opinions, to discuss these questions. After the discussions he again tested them to find out how much each individual's opinion had changed, and whose opinion had prevailed. By examining these results, and then assaying the mental and personality traits of his subjects, he was able to tell what kind of person is influential in an argument.

Likely to be influential, he found, are: 1) Students who get good marks; 2) individuals with high verbal and mathematical ability; 3) Jews (Protestants were next and Catholics last); 4) individuals who are least selfconscious; 5) radicals; 6) students who are liked by their classmates. Whether an individual is emotional, neurotic, sociable or an introvert apparently has no relation to his ability to influence others in discussion.

Dr. Simpson was unable to discover many traits that consistently mark people who are easily influenced. Influential people, his studies proved, are themselves least influenced. People who do not change their opinions easily usually are rated as desirable friends by their fellows after a discussion. A surprising discovery was that extremists are as apt to be influenced by discussion as middle-of-the-roaders.

Dr. Simpson's tests were intended to show not only how much but how good an influence discussion has. He concluded that a properly conducted "bull session'' has a good effect, for after his students had discussed works of art, their ratings of those works agreed more closely with experts' opinions. Few subjects realized their opinions had been changed by discussion. One girl told Dr. Simpson she was still of the same mind as before. Yet on her second test she unconsciously swung 17 points toward a consensus of experts.

* Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University.

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