Majoring In Persuasion

Though said with a touch of humor, Scott Adams offers a thought provoking idea for a future career. He points out that a college major focusing on persuasion would be perpetually useful, as the skill will always be needed in some way. Possible courses could include: Sales methods, Psychology of persuasion, public speaking, appearance, networking and how to entertain.

Adams explains:

Colleges are unlikely to offer this sort of major because society is afraid and appalled by anything that can be labeled “manipulation,” which isn’t even a real thing.

Manipulation isn’t real because almost every human social or business activity has as its major or minor objective the influence of others. You can tell yourself that you dress the way you do because it makes you happy, but the real purpose of managing your appearance is to influence how others view you.

Humans actively sell themselves every minute they are interacting with anyone else. Selling yourself, which sounds almost noble, is little more than manipulating other people to do what is good for you but might not be so good for others. All I’m suggesting is that people could learn to be more effective at the things they are already trying to do all day long.

Scott Adams: “Future Jobs”

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