It is based on the desire to be and appear to be a person with consistent attitudes and behaviors over time - In social persuasion, the general strategy consists of Get the recipient to make a commitment first and express it.
Foot-in-the-door technique: It consists of asking the person for a small commitment, related to our objective. Once he accepts it, a commitment of greater importance (the one we really want to achieve) is asked of him. In order not to appear inconsistent, the receiver succumbs to the second request.
Efficiency is maximized when:
- The commitment is public.
- The first compromise that has been obtained from white has been costly.
- The person has been able to choose freely.
Legitimation of insignificant favors or "A penny is enough"
- The procedure consists of making a ridiculous request, presenting that minimal contribution as something important despite its insignificance.
- Effective in raising money for charities.
- It appeals to the self-concept of the individual who would be perceived as a stingy if he did not agree to that ridiculous request.
Low ball or ball against base technique
- Once an agreement has been established on certain bases or conditions, the bases on which said agreement has been made are withdrawn.
- The tactic is to convince people to decide on a certain behavior, and once they have taken the decision and a compromise has been reached, the initial conditions worsen: "we don't have this product but we have this one other". Subjects do not usually back down.
- According to studies, the low ball technique, which also implies that the subject performs intermediate actions, would be the best procedure for a person to agree to any request, without any type of pressure to comply that is obvious.
Both "foot in the door" and "low ball" are based on the principle of consistency. The main difference between the two techniques:
- In that of "foot in the door" Subjects are asked to agree to two behaviors, the initial and the final.
- In that of the "low ball" subjects are asked to agree to a single behavior. In the latter case, people's commitment is greater, since they have previously said yes to that particular behavior.
We are more likely to make a decision based on heuristics, rather than on rational analysis, when the following occur circumstances:
- We do not have time to meditate on the question.
- The informational overload prevents us from a total and simultaneous processing.
- We believe that the question is not important.
- We lack sufficient knowledge to analyze the situation.
- The heuristic is very accessible and it quickly comes to mind.
The best inoculation of persuasion is training in counterargument.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
