In terms of getting more people to do X, ideally people should want X to occur, should like X occurring, and should approve of X occurring.
Coercion seems like it usually implies at least one of the following: That they do not want, do not like, or do not approve of whatever it is that you are attempting to coerce them into doing, but that you make them do it anyway, usually by connecting it to a threat.
Willing allies seem to be defined in that it is much more likely that they probably already like, want, and approve of the activity. But despite that, you may still want them to like, want or approve of the activity more.
For instance, if someone is collecting money for cryonics research, someone who immediately gives them five dollars and doesn’t require any convincing at all certainly seems like a willing ally. But cryonics research will cost more than five dollars, so you still have to find out if it’s efficient to push them for more.
So when you want Person X to do activity Y, you can break down each element individually. This allows you to be more specific about why Person X isn’t already doing activity Y, and then you can consider the costs of each possible method on an individual basis. Although, this includes of course the cost of an analysis itself. Some people don’t want/like/approve of being analyzed in that manner, and attempting to figure out what they like, want, and approve of will not help.
This sounds correct on it’s face, but I’m still concerned I’m missing something and I can’t see it. However, I’ve looked over it a few times and I don’t see anything wrong. Is there an angle I’m missing?
I was thinking of a way of expressing my thoughts on this, and this chart from Yvain occurred to me.
http://lesswrong.com/lw/6nz/approving_reinforces_loweffort_behaviors/
In terms of getting more people to do X, ideally people should want X to occur, should like X occurring, and should approve of X occurring.
Coercion seems like it usually implies at least one of the following: That they do not want, do not like, or do not approve of whatever it is that you are attempting to coerce them into doing, but that you make them do it anyway, usually by connecting it to a threat.
Willing allies seem to be defined in that it is much more likely that they probably already like, want, and approve of the activity. But despite that, you may still want them to like, want or approve of the activity more.
For instance, if someone is collecting money for cryonics research, someone who immediately gives them five dollars and doesn’t require any convincing at all certainly seems like a willing ally. But cryonics research will cost more than five dollars, so you still have to find out if it’s efficient to push them for more.
So when you want Person X to do activity Y, you can break down each element individually. This allows you to be more specific about why Person X isn’t already doing activity Y, and then you can consider the costs of each possible method on an individual basis. Although, this includes of course the cost of an analysis itself. Some people don’t want/like/approve of being analyzed in that manner, and attempting to figure out what they like, want, and approve of will not help.
This sounds correct on it’s face, but I’m still concerned I’m missing something and I can’t see it. However, I’ve looked over it a few times and I don’t see anything wrong. Is there an angle I’m missing?