How to Coach Yourself and Others Beware of Manipulation | Page 94

4. Foot in the Door Technique: Start off small and up-sell.
Someone asks you for something small, and when you give it to them, they ask for something bigger.
And then, maybe, something even bigger.
Example:
Son: “Mom, can I go out for an hour to see Anthony?”
Mom: “Sure.”
Son: “I just called Anthony and he’s going to the movies. Can I go with him?”
Mom: “Sure.”
Son: “I only have $5. Could you lend me a few bucks to get in?”
Son: “…Could you give us a ride there?”
Son: “…Could you pick us up afterwards?”
Foot-in-the-door (FITD) technique is a
compliance tactic that involves getting a
person to agree to a large request by first
setting them up by having that person
agree to a modest request. The foot-in-thedoor technique succeeds owing to a basic
human reality that social scientists call
“successive approximations”.
Essentially, the more a subject goes along
with small requests or commitments, the
more likely that subject is to continue in a
desired direction of attitude or behavioral
change and feel obligated to go along with
larger requests. FITD works by first
getting a small 'yes' and then getting an
even bigger 'yes.'
The principle involved is that a small
agreement creates a bond between the
requester and the requestee. Even though
the requestee may only have agreed to a
trivial request out of politeness, this forms
a bond which - when the requestee
attempts to justify the decision to
themselves - may be mistaken for a
genuine affinity with the requester, or an
interest in the subject of the request. When
a future request is made, the requestee will
feel obliged to act consistently with the
earlier one.
The reversed approach - making a deliberately outlandish opening demand so that a subsequent, milder
request will be accepted - is known as the door-in-the-face technique.

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