Demonstrate-A-Concept Blog

Compliance techniques are often used by salesmen in order to sell their products. They are tricky ways of getting people to do things they wouldn't otherwise have done. Compliance is when a person changes his or her behavior and agrees to do something as a result of another person's request. That is, when a person directly asks someone else--whether it be a friend, family member, or stranger--to do something for them, they attempt to get the other person to comply and carry out their request, sometimes using the following methods.

One compliance technique, often used by salesmen, is called the Foot-in-the-Door Technique. This is the idea that people are more likely to agree to a large request if they had previously agreed to a smaller one. When using this technique, the requester will present the unsuspecting victim with a small request--something that would be simple to complete--in order to set the stage for a much larger request, which they are more likely to agree to simply because they already did the first one (Fraser & Freedman 1966). This could be due to Self-Perception, in which people determine their true feelings by watching their own behavior. That is, if people see themselves agree to the first request, they determine that they must be open to the requester and therefore are more amenable to the second, larger request, if only to be consistent in their behavior (Burger, 1999).

The video I posted to demonstrate the Foot-in-the-Door Technique stars my friend Amber, whom I asked to get a drink for me, which was a small request because she was getting up to get a drink anyway. However, I then asked her to get me a cup after she came back with my drink. This was a larger request because she had already sat back down and gotten settled in, so it was more of a sacrifice for her to get up the second time than the first time. However, because she had already done the first favor for me, she completed the second one as well in order to ensure her behavior was consistent. Perhaps she observed herself getting me a drink and determined that was a common favor that she didn't mind doing for her friend. Because of this, maybe she did not mind doing a second favor, simply because she had done the first one already and maybe she therefore enjoyed doing favors for people.

Another compliance technique is called the Door-in-the-Face Technique, which involves an unreasonably large request followed by the true request that was really wanted in the first place (Cialdini et. al., 1975). That is, first the requester asks something really big of someone, and when the other person refuses, he/she then asks for something smaller in hopes that the other person will be more open to the second request, as it is smaller in comparison to the large one (a theory called "perceptual contrast"). Another explanation for why this technique works is because of "reciprocal concessions", which is related to the reciprocity norm--that you should pay back someone if they've done something for you (Gouldner, 1960). That is, the requester made the concession of backing down from the large request to a smaller one, so the other person feels that they should return the concession by complying to the second request. The person may also feel guilty for not agreeing to the first request, prompting them to complete the second one to make up for their first rejection (O'Keefe & Figge, 1997).

The second video, featuring my roommate Lori, illustrates the Door-in-the-Face Technique. In the video, I ask her to make me a sandwich (something that would be too much trouble for her to do when I can do it myself), and when she says no, I ask her to get a drink for me instead. She feels bad about rejecting my first request, so she figures the least she can do is get me a drink, because that's an easy thing for her to do.

As you can see, compliance techniques are very effective, whether you are trying to sell a product or simply get something to drink.

Gouldner, A. W. (1969). The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement. American Sociological Review, 25, 161-178.

O'Keefe, D. J., & Figge, M. (1997). A Guilt-Based Explanation of the Door-in-the-Face Influence Strategy. Human Communication Research, 24:1, 64-81.

Burger, J. M. (1999). The foot-in-the-door compliance procedure: A multiple-process analysis and review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 303-325

Freedman, J.L., & Fraser, S.C. (1966). Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 195 - 202.

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.