Through genetics and social conditioning people have a tendency to comply with authority. Children are trained to listen to teachers at school, respect men in uniform, and obey their parents. Where ever animals form social groups hierarchies arise.
"As humans, people want to defer to a legitimate authority," says Cialdini, Arizona State University professor of Psychology who identified the six universal social influencers, "I don't know about you, but when I'm sitting in a doctor's waiting room, I'm looking at the diplomas and certifications on the wall. We need that shortcut to feel trust. It does make a difference."
"The lesson of authority for the influence process is that any communicator who wishes to move people in his or her direction would be well-advised, before actually trying to influence those people, to first reveal or uncover the credentials that he or she has," explains Cialdini.
People prefer to work with experts. An angry or agitated person in losing control; he wants to know that someone is in control. The bottom line is, they're more likely to listen to people they believe to be experts, that is someone in control, than other people -- even when those experts are asking them to do something they otherwise wouldn't otherwise do.
Application: In order to make use of this tendency use the symbols of authority that already exist. Many of these clues are nonverbal such as how one dresses, how one talks, and how one carries ones self. When approaching a person in behavior crisis state your name and your title, and what your purpose is (eg. "to help deal with this situation"). If you dress smartly, and talk like you are in charge your authority will be assumed. Speaking confidently to a person in behavior crisis gives reassurance that someone is in control.
There two down sides to the power of authority. One is that for many people authority will trigger reactance, a natural reaction to having one's options limited. Being told to that one must do something or can not do something by someone in authority (or policy) strips a person of control. This creates a reaction that seeks to gain back control, which can create a stubborn fight-back against authority. Individual will have this response if they consider the use of authority to be unfair or uninterested in their needs. You must convey your intention to address the concerns of the agitated person.
A second downside of the power of authority is how far will people go in obedience to authority. How far they will go was revealed by the famous Milgram experiment performed in the 1960s. One of the best presentations of the experiment is TV Mentalist Derren Brown’s genuine recreation of them, that can be viewed here. If you are unfamiliar with the experiment I will leave it for you to watch the video.
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