RE: Influencing

["Nimon, Harry H SITI-IT-GRCA" <hnimon@Shell.Com>]

Dirk van Putten wrote:

>Recently I have been exploring the idea that people cannot control other
>people's thoughts.

True.  For that matter, from what I read in brain research, few 
people can control their own.

I would put forward that this depends upon the level of control one is
trying to exert.  I am not referring to such items as hypnosis, but of other
simple experiments.  I was recently involved in a program of human factors
change management where an experiment was performed both before the entire
class and by the class upon each other.  In this experiment, the instructor,
a woman of approximately 5'3" and 115 lbs, took one of our students who was
a man of 6'4" and 235 lbs to the front of the class.  She had him think
positive thoughts of himself while holding his arm out straight.  She then
tried to pull his arm down and ended up hanging from it.  Then, she had him
think negative thoughts of himself, and he could not resist her pull.  The
next phase was to have him think positive thoughts while the class thought
negative thoughts about him...and she was able to pull his arm down.  When
he was thinking negative thoughts, and the class positive, she could pull
down his arm, but it was difficult for her. 
We all tried this experiment and found it true.

Harry Nimon