Social Influence Processes and Persuasion in Psychotherapy and Counseling

Question 1

What three ways have the authors identified that the literature about using social influence in psychotherapy should shift to a more multiculturally sensitive approach?

Answer 1

1, One of the major goals of multiculturalism in psychotherapy is to empower marginalized clients. Therefore, multiculturally aware psychologists could readily interpret the traditional application of social influence theory to psychotherapy as oppression in the form of a person of privilege inappropriately influencing clients to accept dominant-culture-based attitudes—a form of psychotherapeutic colonialism, according to Tom Strong (2000). From this perspective, the clinician gains power by not only holding but purveying “correct” atti- tudes, whereas the client loses power by initially holding “incorrect” attitudes and ultimately embracing the privileged clinician’s “correct” attitudes.

2. One important tool for practitioners in addressing clients’ individual differences and racial and ethnic diversity is the Elaborative Likelihood Model of attitude change, because it conceptualizes clients’ levels of cognitive processing as the central mechanism for their attitude change. Through this conceptualiza- tion, the model accounts for both client individual differences and important aspects of ethnic diversity. (see ELM below)
3. Tom Strong’s (2000) ideas mirror multiculturalism’s acceptance of multiple legitimate viewpoints. His discussion of the use of influence in collaborative psychotherapy includes the suggestion that, because therapist influence over the client is unavoidable, therapists should share their influence intentions with their clients. In other words, clients and therapists should collaboratively choose a goal, methods for treatment, homework, and conversa- tional focus.

Question 2

Explain Strong’s two stage model of interpersonal influence in psychotherapy. Explain the Elaborative Likelihood model of attitude change.

Answer 2

Stage 1: the therapist gains credibility in the eyes of the client by exhibiting expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness

Stage 2: this credibility then enables the therapist to enter the second stage, where he or she makes recommendations to the client that are dissonant from the client’s attitudes and behaviors. The therapist attempts to influence the client’s attitudes, opinions, and/or behaviors by using his or her personal credibility to create client attitude change. The client’s attitude change ostensibly results in a reduction in the dissonance between his or her attitudes and the therapist’s

Elaborative Likelihood model (ELM) of attitude change: a depth-of- processing theory of attitude change that posits both a deep processing route and a shallow processing route to attitude change. The ELM explains how persuasive communications—such as comments by a counselor or psychotherapist—result in attitude change (Cacioppo et al., 1991) and posits that attitude change has two sources: the central route and the peripheral route. The central route results from careful, systematic, and reasoned deliberation, whereas the peripheral route results from the use of heuristics (simple decision rules), such as a speech with big words, and asso- ciative cues, such as the level of attractiveness or authority of the communicator