suggestive approach to influencing others | The Australian Dictionary of Invisible Culture for Teachers

The Australian Dictionary of Invisible Culture for Teachers

suggestive approach to influencing others

norm: when it is like this, it is good to do some things (see more)

Many people in Australia think like this:

When I want someone to do something, it can be good if I say something like “Maybe you will want to think about it. Maybe if you think about it you will want to do it.”

Note

The 'do something' here is not necessarily a specific task to be completed, but also applies to more conceptual ideas, such as getting a friend to think about quitting their job.

"Hannah and Emma are talking about Hannah's job. Emma says 'If it's that bad, maybe you should think about leaving.' Emma thinks that Hannah should leave her job, Emma knows that Hannah needs much time to think about it first."

"John notices that Billy is pulling faces of pain. John says 'Maybe you should go home today, or at least go and get a massage.'"

understanding 'helpful suggestions'using 'helpful suggestions' to avoid a directive why don’t you do X?can you/could you/would you do X?formulating requests as suggestions suggest recommend how about doing X?

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