and actions.In addition to the above appearance of credibility as an effect of a communicator, look at how perceived expertise helps. Baron says “…I had never met anyone who had spoken about past lives with such frankness” (27). Even if she was the Queen of England, had she lost eye contact with him, or stuttered somewhat, or muttered under her breath, the effect it had on Will would almost certainly have been less than it was. Her delivery was forthright and level-eyed, and it sent the message that she, a qualified person, took the concept seriously. The New Age makes good use of the factors of the effective communicator. One of the more popular proponents is the Oscar-winning actress, Shirley MacLaine. She commanded “$300-per-person at a meeting in New York City (as part of a fifteen-city tour that earned $1.5 million),” (Friedrich, 1987, cited by Clark and Geisler, p. 9). It is not unreasonable to assume that those who can afford $300 to hear a guest speaker are people in leading positions in society. Dionne Warwick, a pioneer of the Motown era, is the Queen of the psychic television and telephone network. Top-billing Actors like Richard Gere and Steven Segal offer regularly that they are “Buddhists,” a religion not typically “American,” but gaining acceptance riding the wave of — and contributing to — the New Age. Like getting celebrities to sponsor soft drinks and athletic shoes, the New Age is certainly following the social psychological concepts to influence people..Consider also that among the leading gurus of the New Age is Stephen Covey, author of the best-selling The 7 Steps of Highly Effective People. Time Magazine rates him among the “25 Most Influential People in America today” (Lucayo, 1996). US President Bill Clinton is “the first Democrat to win a second term since Roosevelt,” yet he is not on the list at all. (Time disting...
