Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Articles & podcasts
    • Blog posts
    • Collection
    • News
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
    • Career Ad Discount
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2021
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Articles & podcasts
    • Blog posts
    • Collection
    • News
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
    • Career Ad Discount
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2021
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Pinterest
  • Follow CMAJ on Youtube
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
Letters

Principles of influence

Donald A. Redelmeier
CMAJ September 17, 2002 167 (6) 628-629;
Donald A. Redelmeier
Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Metrics
  • Responses
  • PDF
Loading

Neil Shear's letter is one more development in a memorable series of exchanges over our article.1 We agree completely with his insights: the basic point is that advanced training in medicine does not immunize clinicians against the forces of social influence. In this response, we focus on this last issue.

Before we submitted our manuscript to CMAJ we had received 5 dissenting external reviews at other journals. One reviewer said, “employing tactics of social influence violates principles of biomedical ethics.” Another wrote, “medicine does not usually operate this way.” And a third said, “social influence techniques will ultimately undermine autonomous motivation.”

We recognize that researchers have not attempted to replicate these studies in real medical settings, that influence strategies are only one factor in human decision-making and that ethicists could raise major concerns about the potential for abuse. None of these limitations, however, justifies a lack of awareness.

The science of social influence is a new field, and our review is not the final word. Furthermore, this science emerged from the military education programs of World War II and is biased generally toward techniques that are effective on healthy people. More nuanced research about medical care may now be considered legitimate as the focus of this science shifts from military conflict to the war against disease.

A tendency exists to become overly enthusiastic about solutions to difficult problems when faced with positive results from psychology. The studies show, however, that influence strategies rarely make all the difference. Concrete barriers and supports are crucial (e.g., inconvenience, incentives and information). As Shear implies, clinicians should have no aspirations of becoming wizards who can govern a person's behaviour.

Donald A. Redelmeier Department of Medicine University of Toronto Toronto, Ont.

Reference

  1. 1.↵
    Redelmeier DA, Cialdini RB. Problems for clinical judgement: 5. Principles of influence in medical practice. CMAJ 2002;166(13):1680-4.
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

CMAJ
Vol. 167, Issue 6
17 Sep 2002
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Principles of influence
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Principles of influence
Donald A. Redelmeier
CMAJ Sep 2002, 167 (6) 628-629;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Principles of influence
Donald A. Redelmeier
CMAJ Sep 2002, 167 (6) 628-629;
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Reference
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Respiratory syncytial virus and palivizumab prophylaxis in the COVID-19 era
  • Eliminating racism in research
  • Transitioning to outpatient arthroplasty during COVID-19: time to pivot
Show more Letters

Similar Articles

Collections

  • Topics
    • Shared decision-making (doctor-patient)
    • Patient education

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions

Copyright 2021, CMA Joule Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

To receive any of the resources on this site in an accessible format, please contact us at cmajgroup@cmaj.ca.

Powered by HighWire