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Social psychology: Altruism · Attribution · Attitudes · Conformity · Discrimination · Groups · Interpersonal relations · Obedience · Prejudice · Norms · Perception · Index · Outline
The door in the face technique is a persuasion method. The persuader asks an individual with a request that is so demanding or outrageous that it would most likely to be refused. Then, the persuader would ask a smaller and reasonable request which is the persuader's intended request. The individual accepts the second request because it seems smaller than the first. If the persuader would have asked for the smaller request first he would have been turned down, but because the larger one was presented first the individual is more open. Another explanation is that the individual reciprocates with a compliance to the concession.
Examples
Imagine a product that is obscure or new to the market and the price it will reach once it becomes widespread is generally unknown. A salesman could first ask an outrageous price for the product, then after the customer refuses, he can ask another price, which is lower than the first one but still somewhat higher than the intended price. However, because the prospective buyer was just presented with a less desirable alternative, he is more likely to pay the price.
As a version of the above example, shops are sometimes accused of raising prices before announcing a discount, so that the discounted price is the same or even higher than the original price. People are more inclined to pay it because the non-discounted price is higher still and thus creates the illusion of making a saving.
See also
References
Brehm, S.S., Kassin, S., Fein,S. (2005) Social Psychology 6th ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.]]
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