People want to be liked
In How
to Win Friends and
Influence People, Dale
Carnegie describes how to gain peoples' trust
by being their friend. When I took the course, my friends asked me if the
nature of the goal (winning friends) forced one to be disingenuous. Does
being nice to someone you would not ordinarly have befriended constitute
deception?
It turns out that the way to make people befriend you is to be their
friend. I don't find the idea of attending a class to learn how to be a
better member of society to be repulsive. After all, that's one of the
reasons that we have organized religion. Besides, I like people to like
me, too!
But what if your goal in befriending someone is to obtain their
assistance? Oh, wait, that's what friends are for.