#36: Get Your Foot in the Door

Adding an extra dose of behavioral science to your week with our series In a Nutshell— a collection of behavioral science principles, explained in 150 words or less, written weekly by CUBIC director Allison Zelkowitz.

Imagine you want to get a busy, high profile person to speak at an event you’re organizing, and you’re worried they’ll say no. What can you do?

While you could focus on crafting a compelling request, there’s another, less intuitive strategy you might try: ask them for a small favor first, and after they agree, follow with the request you really want.

The Foot-in-the-Door technique was first published in 1966. In one experiment, researchers asked homeowners to put a big, ugly “Drive Carefully” sign in their yards, and 17% agreed. When researchers first asked homeowners to sign a petition to promote safe driving, and then asked them to erect the sign, 55% agreed.

 Why does this work? It’s possible that the relationship between the two people is strengthened by the first agreement; additionally, human beings usually want to remain consistent with their past actions, and their self-perception of being helpful.