Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Door in the face? Anytime!

Since I read Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive, I was already familiar with most of the compliance-inducing strategies Dr. G provided during lecture. However, the book failed to mention the “door in the face” technique (Cialdini et. al., 1975). According to Caildini and his colleagues, influencers need only ask a request that they have no intention of getting. Once you’ve been shot down, then you can make a concession, and ask for something a bit more reasonable. Works most of the time ;) Personally, I use this technique quite frequently. As an example, my father takes me clothes shopping whenever the seasons change, and upon entering the mall I plant my first persuasive seed. That is, as soon as my father parks the car I list the 10 stores “I CAN’T wait to visit!” After sadly agreeing that we probably won’t have enough time to visit all 10, I revise the number and inform him of the four that “I’d like to visit if we have time :).” Once we get into the mall I ramp it up a bit. I grab an excessive amount of clothes, disappear in the dressing room for 40 minutes, and return with about 10 outfits that I want. Of course, he refuses to buy all ten and I agree, instead I ask for the 4 outfits that I absolutely love.


Yay :) I win, since the reason we go shopping each season is to make sure I have everything “I need.” But, how exactly did this “victory” materialize (literally, in the form of clothes :P)? Well, for two reasons. First, my dad has an easier time agreeing to spend money on clothes he knows I don’t need when he can rationalize his behavior. Specifically, when he has been presented with two options (i.e. buy me 10 outfits and buy me 4 outfits) he is able to perceptually contrast the options (Cialdini et. al., 1975). But simply, buying 4 unnecessary outfits seems a lot more reasonable than buying 10 unnecessary outfits. Another reason the door in the face technique works is reciprocal concessions. When I make a concession and reduce my request (i.e. 10 outfits to 4 outfits), my dad feels pressured to reciprocate and make a concession by agreeing to the smaller request (Cialdini et. al., 1975). On a final note, I love this technique because it is sneaky and undetectable to those unaware of these strategies!


Cialdini, R. B., Vincent, J. E., Lewis, S. K., Catalan, J., Wheeler, D., & Darby, B. L. (1975). Reciprocal concessions procedure for inducing compliance: The door-in-the-face technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 206-215.

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