Manipulation Flashcards
1
Q
What is reciprocation?
A
- Reciprocation = we should try to repay what another person has given us.
- Even if gift/favour is unwanted
- Even if we don’t know the person
- tends to overwhelm other factors such as liking
- The “favour” returned doesnt have to be of equal value
- The “Door in the Face” tactic
- If someone makes a concession, we should make one too
2
Q
Give experimental examples of reciprocity
A
- “Joe” and a drink: Regan
- Joe leaves and comes back either empty handed or with a coke for both
- Joe then sells raffle tickets
- Results: Participants who received the coke bought more raffle tickets than
participants who did not. Reciprocity overwhelmed the importance of “liking” Joe
- Cialdini et al. Zoo escort (Door in the face technique)
- Chaperone juveniles to zoo 17% compliance
- Volunteer as counsellor for 2 years (0%), or chaperone juveniles to zoo 51% compliance
3
Q
Why is Reciprocity thought to work?
A
- Reciprocation is an adaptive mechanism:
- Our sense of obligation has a future orientation - societies function in a network of reciprocity of food and skills: Repaying an unsolicited gift fosters a reciprical relationship
- Desire not to be indebted
- Desire to be seen as socially desireable
4
Q
Does reciprocity increase follow through rates?
A
- Miller et al: Small favour vs door in the face conditions
- Volunteer rates: request only 29%, door condition: 76%
- Show up rates: request only 50%, door condition 85%
- Reciprocity increases satisfaction and responsibility towards decisions
5
Q
What is the contrast principle?
A
- Our judgement of a person/object will be influenced by the person/object that we compare it to.
- Relates to door in the face reciprocity: after anchoring to a high value option, the smaller seems much less strenuous
- Examples:
- Kenrick & Gutierres: Female students rated as less attractive by males if they were watching “Charlie’s Angels”
- Buying a car: optional extras are offered after the price for a new car has been negotiated
6
Q
What are some tactics to fight the reciprocity principle?
A
- Decline the initial favour or gift
- Accept but mentally redefine: gifts/favours/concessions as “sales strategies”
- Turn their weapon of influence against them
7
Q
What is the Liking manipulation tactic? What four factors determine liking?
A
- People tend to favour and comply with people that they know and like
- Four factors determine whether or not we like someone
- Physical attractiveness
- Similarity
- Contact and co-operation
- Conditioning and association
8
Q
What is the Halo Effect? Give some examples of the effect of attractiveness
A
- The Halo Effect: Tendecy to think that attractive people must also have other attractive qualities
- attractive people more likely to :
- be rated as brighter and more successful, be hired for a job, receive more votes as political candidates, recieve lighter sentences and avoid jail time
- Experimental examples
- Prisoner rehabilitation ( Kurtzburg et al. ) and plastic surgery: 1yr later, those with surgery less likely to return to prison
- Heart Association Fundraiser (Reingen & Kernen): Attractive fundraiser raised 2x the donations as unattractive one
9
Q
Give examples of research on the effect of similarity, including the mirror and match effect
A
- The “Mirror and Match” effect:
- Mimickry of customers produces a greater sense of liking and higher tips/purchase rates.
- Emswiller, Deux, and Willitis: asked college students for money for phone call
- people were more willing when the two were dressed similarly
- Burger et al. asked the participant to critique an 8 page essay, manipulated shared birthday
- Participants in the same birthday condition were more likely to comply
(62. 2%) than those in the different birthday condition (34.2%)
- Participants in the same birthday condition were more likely to comply
- Aune & Basil (1994): College campus fundraisers
- doubled contributions received by saying “I’m a student, too”
10
Q
What is the effect of contact on “liking”?
A
- The more we are exposed to a person, the more positively we feel toward
him/her- Exceptions: exposure is in unpleasant circumstances, initial impression very negative
- Zajonc’s Mere Exposure Effect
- Repeated exposure to any stimulus makes it more appealing
- The effect is stronger when unaware that one has seen it before
- Bornstein, Leone, & Galley:
- half of participants subliminally exposed to a photo of a confederate
- Those subliminally exposed to the confederate, were more persuaded by the confederate’s opinion
11
Q
What is the effect of co-operation on “liking”?
A
- When someone cooperates with us, it engenders feelings of liking (even if we were once enemies)
- Sherif et al Summer camp experiment
- Split boys attending summer camp into 2 groups and created hostility by using competitive tactics
- Then “repaired” relationship using cooperative superordinate goals
- Real world examples
- Car salesmen who “fight” their manager for a better deal for you
- Waiters/waitresses who give you free things despite management’s orders
12
Q
How do conditioning and association effect “Liking”?
A
- We like (and are more willing to comply with) people who are associated with positive feelings or events
- Smith & Engel: models
- Men who saw a car with a female model rated the car more positively than men who saw the same ad without the model
- Razran:“The Luncheon technique”
- Participants were presented with political statements they had rated before
- the statements that gained in approval were those that had been shown
while food was being eaten
13
Q
How can you combat the Liking tactic?
A
- Think back over your interaction and figure out how they got you to like them
- Separate the person from the product
14
Q
What is the Consistency-Commitment tactic of manipulation? What two techniques exploit this tactic?
A
- Humans have a fundamental desire to be, and to appear, consistent with their actions, statements, and beliefs
- Once we make a commitment to a particular choice/option, we tend to stand by it and act accordingly
- Consistency is an efficient heuristic
- Cognitive dissonance: We bring our attitudes in line with our actions
- “The Foot in the Door” technique
- The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request in order to appear consistent
- The “Low Ball” tactic
- two-step compliance technique in which the manipulator secures an
agreement with a request (Step 1) but then increases the size of that request by revealing hidden costs (Step 2)
- two-step compliance technique in which the manipulator secures an
15
Q
Give some examples of the consistency/commitment effect
A
- Sherman: giving to charity
- Asked people to predict if they would give to door knockers
- Few weeks later, sent charity door knocking: 700% increase
- Freedman & Fraser foot in the door
- Ask to put a small drive safely sticker in window (almost all agree)
- 3 weeks later asked to put a 3m sign in front yard 76% of those who agreed to small request agreed
- Real world:
- Filling out your own sales agreement
- Competitions: “Tell us why you like Nespresso in 25 words or less.”
- Diet clinics get people to write down their goal weight and tell it to others
16
Q
What is the difference between external and internal motivators?
A
- Example of consistency/conformity effect: Freedman Child-rearing experiment: 22 boys and forbidden toy
-
External motivator (i.e., strong threats)
- Short-term: elicited temporary compliance when there was the possibility of punishment
- Long-term: did not lead to compliance as there was no longer a threat of punishment
-
Internal motivator
- Short-term: elicited compliance and boys took responsibility for not playing with the toy
- Long-term: maintained compliance as the boys had generated their own reasons for why it was wrong to play with the robot
17
Q
How can we avoid the consistency/commitment tactic?
A
- Recognise that it is often effortful to back out of a negotiation
- Trust your gut instinct
- “Knowing what I know now, if I could go back in time, would I still make the
same choice?” - Remember there is no such thing as a harmless request
18
Q
What is the Authority tactic of manipulation?
A
- We defer to credible experts and authority figures to help us decide how to behave
- especially when we are feeling ambivalent about a decision or when we are in an ambiguous situation
- Doesn’t need to be a genuine authority figure (eg man in suit)
19
Q
What is the “Sleeper” Effect?
A
- Effect of authority changes over time
- The delayed increase in the persuasive impact of a non-credible source
- Over time, we dissociate the source of theinformation from the message
- Credible sources loose impact
- Noncredible sources gain impact
- Most reliable when you learn who the source is AFTER you have received the initial message
- Won’t occur if you remind people of the source prior to asking them their attitude/opinion on the subject a few weeks later
20
Q
What are some examples of the effect of authority on behaviour?
A
- Milgrim electric shock administration on others
- 1 out of 4 stopped at “intense” level, 1 out of 8 stopped at “extreme” level. Over 60% were still obedient past XXX level
- However, when experimenter delivered instructions by phone, only 20.5% continued to obey
- Jaywalking study (Lefkowitz et al)
- Three times as many pedestrians followed the experimenter in a business suit than when he was in casual clothing
- Real World applications
- Waiter/waitress giving “insider tips”
- “Captinitis”
- Oral B dentist, “scientific evidence”
21
Q
How can we reduce the effect of authority on judgement?
A
- Ask: In this area, is this person an expert or just an authority figure?
- are they trustworthy or are they using their authority to make me comply to a request that serves them?
22
Q
What is social validation? When is it most influential?
A
- We look to others for cues on how to think, feel, and behave.
- The actions of others validate our own actions.
- Most influential when:
- Watching others similar to ourselves
- When we are uncertain about the “correct” course of action
23
Q
How can social validation be used in the real world?
A
- Bandura: Social validation and phobias
- Looked at pre-school children who were scared of dogs.
- Had them watch another child playing with a dog for 20 minutes per day
- After 4 days, 67% of these children were willing to climb into a playpen with a dog. Pesisted at 1 month
- Follow up studies: videos work just as well, best when a variety of children shown playing
-
Role Models
- LA drivers were more likely to help a female driver with a flat tyre if
they had witnessed someone helping another woman change a tyre - British adults more willing to donate blood if approached just after observing a confederate agreeing to donate blood
- LA drivers were more likely to help a female driver with a flat tyre if
-
Other Tactics in real world
- Advertising: quality = quantity, “best-selling”, “Ordinary people” who give “unrehearsed” testimonies about how good a product is
- Busking and tip-jars
- Canned laughter
24
Q
What is the bystander effect?
A
- A form of social validation that inhibits prosocial behaviour
- where the presence of others inhibits helping
- when uncertain, if others dont act neither do we
- diffusion of responsibility
- Kitty Genovese screamed for aid when being attacked but no one reacted
25
How can we fight the social validation effect?
* When help is needed
* Counteract ambiguity: Make it clear that you need help
* Reduce diffusion of responsibility: single people out
* Beware of social validation in two particular situations
* When social validation is obviously being manipulated
* At times when you decide to blindly follow the crowd
26
What is the Scarcity heuristic and why does it work?
* What is rare is valuable, what is in short-supply is desirable
* Going from abundant to scarce higher than always scarce
* Reason for scarcity: social demand is highest favoured
* triggers a sudden surge of arousal/competitiveness.
* Reactance theory
* When our freedoms are restricted, we attempt to reassert our free choice by regaining exactly what was limited in the first place.
* We react against the interference by wanting, and trying to possess, the item more than before
27
Give some examples of the scarcity effect
* Worchel et al Consumer preference study
* Study 1: Rating taste of cookies.
* Jar contained either 10 or 2 cookies
* People rated the 2 cookies higher than 10 cookies
* Study 2: Change in scarcity
* Jar with 2, vs Jar with 10 replaced by 2
* Change to scarcity rated higher than always scarce
* Study 3: reason for scarcity
* Reduced to 2 by original mistake or due to demand for first cookies elsewhere
* Social demand condition rated highest
* Real World:
* Buy Now! Until stocks last etc
28
How can we combat the scarcity effect?
* Ask yourself—why do I want that product/service?
* Just for the sake of owning it?
* Just to stop anyone else from owning it?
* For its function or utility? If so, remember that scarce things don’t function better
