Moral and Political Attitudes, Social Influence and Persuasion

Two kinds of attitude in the syllabus

The second half of the attitude line asks about "moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion". Moral attitudes shape how we judge right and wrong; political attitudes shape how we view power, parties and the State. Social influence and persuasion explain how attitudes change – a key skill for officers running campaigns on sanitation, vaccination or girls' education.

Moral attitudes

Moral attitudes are evaluations based on our sense of right and wrong – for example, attitudes toward honesty, cruelty to animals, dowry or caste discrimination.

• They are linked to conscience and core values, so they are strong, central and hard to change.
• Moral conviction makes attitudes resistant to compromise; people are less willing to accept a middle path on issues they see as moral.
• Moral attitudes develop through stages (Kohlberg): pre-conventional (avoid punishment), conventional (follow rules, seek approval) and post-conventional (universal principles).
• Moral foundations theory (Jonathan Haidt) suggests that people's moral attitudes rest on several intuitions – care, fairness, loyalty, authority, sanctity and liberty – and that different groups weigh these differently.

Relevance: civil servants must hold firm moral attitudes (honesty, non-discrimination) while respecting that citizens may differ on contested moral questions.

Political attitudes

Political attitudes are evaluations of political objects – government, parties, leaders, policies, ideologies.

• Political socialisation – formed through family, school, media, peers and major events (Emergency, economic reforms).
• Dimensions – left–right on economics, liberal–conservative on social issues, attitude toward authority and change.
• Political culture (Almond and Verba, *The Civic Culture*, 1963): parochial (little awareness of the State), subject (aware but passive) and participant (active citizens).
• Political efficacy – belief that one's actions can influence politics.

For civil servants: they may have personal political attitudes but must show political neutrality in official work – serving every elected government equally, as Rule 5 of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules requires (no participation in politics). Neutrality does not mean indifference to constitutional values.

Moral vs political attitudes

Social influence

Social influence is the way other people change our attitudes and behaviour.

Conformity

• Solomon Asch's line experiments (1951) – about one-third of answers conformed to a clearly wrong group answer about line lengths, and about three-quarters of participants conformed at least once.
• Normative influence – conform to be liked or avoid rejection.
• Informational influence – conform because we think others know better.
• Risk in administration: an honest new officer may slowly conform to a corrupt office culture; groupthink (Irving Janis) in committees can lead to poor decisions.

Compliance

Changing behaviour in response to a direct request. Techniques include:

• Foot-in-the-door – small request first, then a bigger one.
• Door-in-the-face – a big request that is refused, then a smaller one that seems reasonable.
• Low-ball – getting agreement, then changing terms.

Obedience

• Stanley Milgram (1963) – about 65 per cent of participants obeyed an authority figure to give what they believed were dangerous electric shocks.
• Lesson: officers must not hide behind "orders from above". The Nuremberg trials rejected the "superior orders" defence. In India, a public servant must refuse illegal orders and record them; the Supreme Court has noted that officers are bound by the law, not by oral instructions.
• Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment (1971) – showed how roles and situations can make ordinary people abusive; relevant to custodial violence.

Persuasion

Persuasion is the deliberate attempt to change attitudes through communication.

The Yale model: who says what to whom

1. Source – credibility (expertise, trustworthiness), attractiveness, similarity to audience.
2. Message – one-sided vs two-sided; emotional vs rational; fear appeals work only with clear steps to avoid the danger.
3. Audience – age, education, mood, prior attitudes.
4. Channel – face-to-face, radio, TV, social media, community leaders.

Elaboration likelihood model (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986)

• Central route – careful thinking about strong arguments; leads to lasting change. Works when the audience is motivated and able to think.
• Peripheral route – cues such as celebrity, music or number of arguments; quick but short-lived change.

Cialdini's six principles of influence (1984)

Reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking and scarcity. Later he added unity.

Nudge

Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (*Nudge*, 2008) showed how changing the "choice architecture" – defaults, reminders, social comparisons – changes behaviour without coercion. Thaler won the Nobel in Economics in 2017. India's Economic Survey 2018–19 had a chapter on behavioural economics, citing Swachh Bharat, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and the "Give It Up" LPG campaign.

Persuasion in Indian public campaigns

Ethical limits of persuasion

Persuasion can slide into manipulation or propaganda. Ethical persuasion:

• Uses true information and respects the audience's ability to decide.
• Avoids exploiting fear, prejudice or ignorance.
• Is transparent about who is speaking and why.
• Respects autonomy (Kant) – people are ends, not targets.

Fake news, deepfakes and hate speech are examples of unethical persuasion that officers must counter with facts, quick response and law.

Worked example: persuading a reluctant village

A district health officer finds that a village refuses measles–rubella vaccination because of rumours that it causes infertility.

• Source: instead of only issuing orders, she involves the local imam, priest and school headmaster, and women health workers (ASHAs) from the same community – credible and liked sources.
• Message: two-sided – admits mild side effects like fever, then explains safety data and the dangers of measles. Uses stories of children who suffered from the disease.
• Channel: face-to-face meetings, a community radio programme and a WhatsApp voice note in the local dialect.
• Social proof: first vaccinates the children of respected families publicly.
• Commitment: asks mothers to sign a simple pledge.
• Ethical check: no threats of withdrawing rations, no false claims; consent respected.

Coverage rises because attitudes change voluntarily, which also makes the next campaign easier.

Social influence and integrity

Social influence works in both directions. Honest peer groups, transparent offices and visible punishment of corruption create norms that pull new officers toward integrity. That is why reforms often focus on culture – rotation, team appraisal, public display of service timelines – rather than individual sermons. The ethical officer also needs moral courage to resist conformity when the group is wrong, like the one participant in Asch's study who keeps giving the correct answer.

Mains practice question

What is the role of social influence and persuasion in the success of government welfare programmes? Illustrate with examples and discuss the ethical limits. (250 words)

Answer framework

• Define social influence (conformity, compliance, obedience) and persuasion.
• Models: Yale, ELM, Cialdini, nudge.
• Examples: Swachh Bharat, Pulse Polio, Give It Up.
• Ethical limits: manipulation, autonomy, truthfulness.
• Conclude: persuasion builds voluntary compliance; combine with service delivery.