E3: Compliance Flashcards
What is compliance?
when people change their behavior in response to a request
What are some different strategies to get people to comply?
Reciprocity, sequential requests, and low balling
Reciprocity as a strategy
The norm of reciprocity is an unwritten rule that when someone does something nice for you (even if you didn’t ask) we feel like we need to do something in return
ex: getting a free sample of food you did not ask for, now feel obligated to buy that thing
what are the two different kinds of sequential requests?
-foot in the door technique
-door in the face technique
What is sequential requests referring to?
whether you make a large request first and then make it smaller or vice versa
foot in the door technique
starting with a small initial request that people will say yes to and then making a big request for what you actually wanted in the first place
why does the foot in the door technique work?
Because of self perception: saying yes once makes us think that we are a generous/agreeable person so we avoid saying no and risking a change in that perception
-to decline the follow up request would make us question our agreeableness and cause dissonance
door in the face technique
make a large request first that you expect people to say no to and then following up with a smaller request for what you actually wanted all along
why does the door in the face technique work
-perceptual contrast
-self presentation
-reciprocal concession
perceptual contrast (door in face)
the second request made does not seem so bad now compared to the first one
self presentation (door in face)
The requestor wants you to think of them as a reasonable person
reciprocal concession (door in face)
because we feel like the salesman compromised by making a smaller request we feel the need to do the same and agree with the new offer
low-balling technique
agreeing to something at first, like presenting a great deal, and then going back and changing the conditions on original agreement
why does low-balling work
we had made a commitment in our mind and now feel obligated to the other person to go through with the deal
In general, why do all of these different strategies work?
overall we find it difficult to be assertive in interpersonal situations
underestimation of compliance effect
we assume that people will say no to our requests, but in reality more people comply with a request than you would think
Why do we underestimate people’s compliance?
It is really awkward and difficult to say no to people, but we forget about this when considering making a request
