I previously wrote an article on how “mindset is everything” and in there discuss the importance of conveying to the person what you want them to do. If you haven’t read that article, you should read it before continuing with this article. It’s brief, go read it. I’ll be here when you’re done and return. 🙂

An interesting report from Force Science News. The relevance here is to the issuance of commands, as I mention in my “mindset is everything” article, to convey to the person what you want them to do. The article discusses a study of how police give commands under stress and how the type of command affects compliance. It mentions two sorts of commands: alpha, and beta. 

“Alpha commands,” Lewinski explains, “are simple, direct and explicit, so that even someone in a chemically or emotionally induced fog is likely to understand them.” Examples: “Take your hands out of your pocket,” “Stop talking,” “Quit resisting,” “Don’t leave your vehicle.”

… “[Beta commands] are indirect or imprecise orders that require interpretation by the suspect, based on his or her inference of what the officer intends,” Lewinski says. Examples: “Move,” “Give it up,” “Don’t be stupid,” “Stop screwing around,” “Knock it off,” “Don’t make me kill you.”

In other words, officers in day-to-day interactions generally gave very clear commands about what they wanted, and for the most part they gained compliance. But when they felt themselves threatened, this direct precision tended to be abandoned quickly. While they may have started out issuing alpha commands, in the face of resistance and personal danger they overwhelmingly transitioned to vaguer, less direct beta commands and, in general, gained markedly less compliance.

…

Based on his work with autistic children and others who show resistance in classrooms, he knows that “beta commands are very ineffective and inefficient. They leave people guessing.” When teachers switch from beta to alpha commands, they experience greater compliance even from mentally and emotionally disabled students, Houlihan says. “With the change, you almost immediately see better teachers and better kids.”

He cites an incident from the law enforcement studies in which an officer was in a stand-off with a suspect who was gripping a knife. “The officer told him 5 times, ‘Don’t make me kill you’ before he finally did shoot the suspect. A terrible command! He might have thought he was conveying an order to put down the knife, but that’s not what he said. It was left up to the suspect to interpret what the officer meant and what action was expected. In effect, the suspect was put in the position of having to control the officer’s behavior.

It doesn’t matter the context: police work, self-defense, dealing with your kids, ordering food at a restaurant, talking with your boss or subordinates, whatever. If you wish to increase the level of success regarding compliance with your requests, clearly convey to the person what you want them to do.