It is criminal to write about foot-in-the-door and not write about door-in-the-face. It works the opposite way, but it complements the former beautifully.
The door-in-the face phenomenon starts with the larger request. Once they refuse, they make a smaller request to which a majority of people agree. Let’s say you are a student. You want to buy a special shirt. It costs $50. If you go and ask your mom or dad and say it’s $50, they might refuse. However, if you tell them it’s $100, but then pretend to check the price or something, and then tell them it’s $50, psychology says they are much likely to agree. (Note: I am NOT endorsing this behaviour. Do NOT try.)
Robert Cialdini was the one who discovered this term. His research is nothing extraordinary. He asked people whether they would like to take juvenile delinquents on a one time trip to the zoo for two hours. 17% complied. However, when they first asked them if they were willing to work as an unpaid counselor for juvenile delinquents for two years, 100% refused, and then they followed up with the previous question and 50% agreed to take them on the two hour trip. So, why does this work?
Firstly, we are influenced by Perceptual Contrast. When we are first presented with a large request and then a small one, the small one seems reasonable because we compare it to the large one. Another aspect of this is Reciprocal Concessions. We feel socially pressured to compromise in return of them compromising with the smaller request.
Sales, charities, students, children, parents and so many others all use this tactic at some point in some aspect. It’s interesting to see how mere positioning of sentences can change the outcome of the situation
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