Suggestive
authority
A
positive, suggestive authority is one of the most effective means by which, we as
teachers / doctors,
can use, if we
use it sensitively, wisely and purposefully.
The
authority we are speaking of here has nothing to do with authoritarianism,
traditional “strictness” or “toughness”. Lozanov defines it as “the non-directive
prestige, which by indirect ways creates an atmosphere of confidence and
intuitive desire to follow the set example.” Authority, in its positive,
suggestive sense, is communicated through our “global” presence, through all
our non-verbal, as well as verbal signals. Students can sense when we embody the
values and attitudes we “talk about”. And when there is congruency in the
many levels of our communication, we become believable, compelling and worthy of
respect.
Lozanov
notes the parallel between the decisive, suggestive power of the first session,
between physician or therapist and patient, and the first class session. Both
patient and student come to their respective experiences with conditioned
attitudes and beliefs - as well as hopes and expectations. In that first encounter,
expectation and suggestibility are at their greatest. In the first session the
climate is most favourable for suggesting that something new, something secretly
or openly hoped for, something extraordinary is possible and probable. When we
communicate in a simultaneous, congruent manner that we are confident with the
material we are teaching, that we love what we are doing, that we respect the
students who have come to learn, that we know they can learn it and that we
take delight in teaching - when we can communicate these things with our voices,
facial expressions, posture, movement and words, we will achieve an invaluable
rapport with our students, will arouse expectancy and motivation and will
establish a suggestive atmosphere, within which the student’s mental reserve
capacities can be tapped. (Self-fulfilling prophecy)