We see leadership in a variety of settings at work, at home, even amongst family. As the oldest of many cousins, I am usually the person to go to when someone needs a babysitter. Leadership was pushed on me from quite an early age. Anytime the adults wanted a date night, dinner plans, or even vacation it was my duty as the oldest to take care of the children. Since I was not an adult or adult figure toward my cousins and brother, I created projects or activities for them to complete and adapted influential tactics and social influence to maintain power.
When I first began my babysitting journey it was a struggle to get any of the kids (around 3-6 years old) to pay attention, much less do what I asked of them. I began by using reciprocity, one of Cialdini’s 6 principles of social influence. Reciprocity involves influencing others by giving them something (PSU WC, 2016, L. 7). This typically involved putting a cartoon on the TV, in order to influence them to stop running around the house. As I got older, and my cousins got older (around 7-10 years old) I noticed we all moved into, liking, another of Cialdini’s 6 principles shown. Liking is characterized as people listening to who they like (PSU WC, 2016, L. 7). My cousins seemed interested in all the things I was doing and were no longer easily distracted by the TV. Suddenly they wanted advice on how to do their nails, hair, lipstick, etc. Fast forward another few years, I was beginning to drive and got a job. Suddenly I gained the social influence known as authority from Cialdini’s 6 principles. Authority occurs when someone is in charge (PSU WC, 2016, L. 7). I was considered an adult amongst my cousins. I handled issues as an adult did not simply call my parents when something went wrong.
Throughout the process of my babysitting journey, I used a variety of influential techniques. In the beginning I closely relied on pressure tactics. Pressure tactics typically involve threats (PSU WC, 2016, L. 7). Since I had no true authority I relied on statements like “if you do not listen, I’m calling mom.” Eventually, I used the exchange tactic to control the children. The exchange tactic involves a variety of favors to influence others (PSU WC, 2016, L. 7). One example, I remember using with my little brother was “if you do the dishes, you can stay up an extra hour.” As everyone got older and questions such as, “but why” were limited I began using rational persuasion. Rational persuasion influences others by using logical arguments to control others (PSU WC, 2016, L. 7). Sometimes my cousins would want to go shopping while I was babysitting. One way I would use logical arguments is by explaining that I only have a learners permit and can’t drive without an adult in the car.
Sometimes I would offer activities for the kids to complete. I used the method of participative leadership to accomplish this. Participative leadership occurs when a leader allows followers to be involved in decisions (Northouse, 2021, p.140). I found when I allowed them to choose an activity, they showed a lot more enthusiasm and positivity. When I dictated tasks and activities there was always a fight for control. If the activity was not dangerous, I was fine with giving them some control. One example I remember was when I had a group of kids and the girls wanted to play with barbies and the boys wanted to play a game called Jenga. I was fine with both groups participating in there activities with minimal direction from me.
In conclusion, the journey of learning different leadership tactics through babysitting was a fun and exciting adventure. As I grew, I gained a new sense of power that came with adulthood, I was no longer looked at as a child. When I did not have the power to control others, I used many influential tactics. Of the influential techniques I used pressure tactics, exchange, and rational persuasion. Of Cialdini’s 6 principles of social influence I used reciprocity, liking, and authority. Lastly, I found participative leadership to be the most useful in this situation.
References:
- Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2016). PSYCH 281 Lesson 7: Power and Influence. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2181168/modules
- Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and Practice(9th Edition). SAGE Publications, Inc. (US). https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781071834473
Babysitting is definitely a form of leadership! I babysat throughout middle school and high school, so I understand your efforts to influence, engage the children and ensure good behavior. I like how you used the influential factors that leaders can apply to be effective at changing behaviors, but I also think that power plays a role. Though power over others can have a sort of derogatory notion, in the sense of babysitting, it is imperative that an individual demonstrates authority, because they may not be initially seen as a figure to listen to and follow. Through a psychological leadership perspective, power can be seen as the ability to influence others and produce change or behaviors on them as well (PSU WC, 2022, L. 7 p.2). So, when used for positive behaviors, such as going to bed early and doing chores, or protecting their wellbeing, think not doing dangerous tasks or watching violent or inappropriate movies and television, power can be a good thing!
There are different types of power that a babysitter uses in order to instill good behavior and have the children listen: expert power, referent power, legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power. Expert power is the power based on knowledge; referent power is development of a amicable relationship between the leader and follower; legitimate power is when a leader has a certain status or set role; reward power is pretty self-explanatory involves the distribution of desirable; and coercive power is opposite of reward power because it involves the reduction of desirables (PSU WC, 2022, L. 9 p.4). Personally, I feel like I have utilized all of these from my babysitting days. I have used expert power when helping children do their homework. Because I have an understanding of elementary-level math, I was able to enforce getting their homework done while offering help. This also helped me build referent power because I was able to help them and develop a relationship of trust. I also developed referent power because I would play with them and they were able to see me as a sort of friend. I also had legitimate power too. Because a child’s parents put me in-charge, I was able to use their authority to establish my own. I used reward power very often, like you, I was able to give extensions to bedtimes or longer screen times. I also was able to use the reward of baking cookies or other sweets to encourage good behavior. However, similar to you as well, I used threats to stop bad behavior. I would also use the line “if you don’t stop, I will call your parents” or take away the desirable activity of baking cookies or later bedtimes.
As you touched on, childcare does include the need for participative leadership, which is the inclusion and consideration of the needs of the followers when leaders make decisions (Northouse, P. G. (2021) page 140). Including the children in the process, helps build referent power, but also ensures they will be engaged and enjoy a babysitters company. For example, when the parents would leave, I would usually ask the child or children what they want to do. I am a younger child in my family so I never babysat kids from my family. Thus, I relied on families in my church and community to service, and since it was a sort of business, good reviews from the children meant more babysitting opportunities and more money in my pocket for the most part. Of course, I thoroughly enjoyed watching and taking care most of the children I babysat for, so it was not all just for the money.
References
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2022). PSYCH 485 Retrieved from
https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2181168/modules/items/35188530
Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory & Practice (9 ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc.
Thank you for your post.
I found your writing very engaging. However, I noted that there wasn’t exactly a statement that I could refer to as a thesis statement although you made it clear what experience you wished to talk about. Your explanation on reciprocity was very clear and the example you gave was good. I suggest that since you have chosen to apply Lesson 7 to your blog post, you could have begun with a definition of influence, which goes quite well with your example on reciprocity. The reason I say this is that influence has been defined as a change in a target agent’s attitudes, values and beliefs due to influence tactics (PSU WC, 2022, L. 7). Turning on cartoons is a clear example of influence tactics.
I believe that you understood Cialdini’s principles adequately, but you neglected plenty of important tenets of that particular week’s notes. You did not mention which kind of power you possessed during your babysitting time despite your examples featuring some relatable information. For instance, you display reward power when you told your little brother that he can stay up an extra hour after doing the dishes, which is an example of the ability to control desired resources (PSU WC, 2022, L. 7). In addition, referent power, which is the power that arises from the relationship between leader and follower can be observed from your relationship with your little cousins ((PSU WC, 2022, L. 7). They viewed you as some sort of role model which made your time in leadership easier.
Socialized power is defined as the motivation to use power to achieve higher goals for an organization (PSU WC, 2022, L. 7). I can state that your example of participation leadership can also be used as an example for socialized power. You understood that the children’s leadership abilities needed to be nurtured and you accordingly involved them in many decisions you made. In conclusion, I liked your examples but I feel like you could have included more course material. I hope that you can take this into consideration for your subsequent blog posts.
References
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2021). PSYCH 281 Lesson 7: Power and Influence. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2181168/modules