Influence may refer to:
In science and technology:
- Sphere of influence (astrodynamics), the region around a celestial body in which it is the primary gravitational influence on orbiting objects
- Sphere of influence (astronomy), a region around a black hole in which the gravity of the black hole dominates that of the host bulge
- Social influence, in social psychology, influence in interpersonal relationships
- Minority influence, when the minority (which can include the status quo) affect the behavior or beliefs of the majority
In entertainment:
- Influence (band), a rock band formed in the 1960s
- Influence (Little Caesar album), 1992 album by Little Caesar
- Influence (Sister Machine Gun album), the seventh album by industrial rock band Sister Machine Gun
Other uses:
- Undue influence, in contract law, where one person takes advantage of a position of power over another person
- Sphere of influence, in political science, an area over which a state or organization has some indirect control
- Office of Strategic Influence, a short-lived U.S. government department
- Driving under the influence, the criminal act of driving while intoxicated
- Influence: Science and Practice, or Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion; two books by Robert Cialdini
Famous quotes containing the word influence:
“A bestial and violent man will go so far as to kill because he is under the influence of drink, exasperated, or driven by rage and alcohol. He is paltry. He does not know the pleasure of killing, the charity of bestowing death like a caress, of linking it with the play of the noble wild beasts: every cat, every tiger, embraces its prey and licks it even while it destroys it.”
—Colette [Sidonie Gabrielle Colette] (1873–1954)
“I think of consciousness as a bottomless lake, whose waters seem transparent, yet into which we can clearly see but a little way. But in this water there are countless objects at different depths; and certain influences will give certain kinds of those objects an upward influence which may be intense enough and continue long enough to bring them into the upper visible layer. After the impulse ceases they commence to sink downwards.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“At present cats have more purchasing power and influence than the poor of this planet. Accidents of geography and colonial history should no longer determine who gets the fish.”
—Derek Wall (b. 1965)