What is the technique of foot on the door?

Have you ever made a purchase or have you hired a service that you did not want to hire and have wondered how it could happen? Maybe you have succumbed to the Foot technique at the door, a persuasion strategy widely used to ensure that people perform concrete actions with greater probability.

Content

• What is the technique of foot on the door?
• A technique proven for decades
• Why do you manage to persuade this technique?
  • Links of interest

What is the technique of foot on the door?

The technique of foot at the door is a persuasion strategy widely studied by social psychology, which implies that if a person agrees to perform a small action, it will later be more prone to performing a greater action, an action that I had not previously made.

That is, it is about getting a person to accept a small little expensive request, as a means to ensure that he subsequently accept a much greater request.

The name of this technique refers to this hypothetical situation in which a seller manages to "set foot on the door" of the possible client as the first step to get the sale.

A technique proven for decades

This persuasion technique has been studied by social psychology through different research. The first study on the strategy was the University of Stanford in 1966 by researchers Jonathan Freedman and Scott Fraser. The investigation raised the following issue: How can a person induce something you would prefer not to do?

The first task of the experiment was to check if unknown people agreed to receive individuals who conducted a study on cleaning products at home. These individuals would inspect brands and use of home products. Some of those people were previously made a small telephone survey to obtain information on what type of cleaning products used.

The researchers verified that those who had passed the previous telephone survey, had 135% more likely to accept the request to receive professionals at home, than those who had not done it.

In the second part of the experiment, scientists went further with their research and decided to check if certain people would accept to place a sign regarding road safety, quite large and little aesthetic, in the garden of their home. Some of these people previously asked to place a small sticker in their windows or doors that promoted the protection of the environment or safe driving. The scientists found again how those who had previously placed these stickers were much more likely to accept placing the poster in their gardens. This has continued to be verified again and again in different investigations over the subsequent decades, but what is this answer to?

Why do you manage to persuade this technique?

One of the explanations that are usually used to explain the effect of this technique is related to the concepts of Self -perception and consistency.

The Self -perception theory Proposed by Daryl Bem, he affirms that when people do not feel sure about their attitude about a fact or situation on which they do not have much previous experience, they tend to draw conclusions about their own attitude by observing the behaviors they have made about it. That is, people infer their personality from their own behaviors made.

According to this theory, in the case of the experiment on the advertising poster, those who had previously agreed A poster in your garden. That is, the subjects carried out this action with more security when consistent with the perception they now had of themselves.

This action provides consistency with self-disseminated "personality" and this consistency is what It leads people to carry out intertwined actions more and more radical, although this is not the most rational.

In addition, the relationship between the person who persuades and the persuaded, makes the second feel in the obligation not to miss a hypothetical commitment that has been forming through the acceptance of the first demands, that is, the person feels involved in the cause and it is more difficult to reject the following requests.

The subtlety of this technique, although it seems intrusive, makes it a very effective strategy that is usually widely used in businesses such as sales or advertising. A way to persuade without, apparently, press getting very effective results. The next time a seller begins to address you asking something subtle as "what phone company you use" or if "you would like to pay less", you know what technique you are using. Now it is already in your hand to know if the door continues to open or closes tir.

Links of interest

• Foot-in-the-door as a persuasive technique. https: // www.Psychologistworld.com/behavior/compliance/Strategies/Foot-in-Door-Technique
• Foot-in-The-Door Technique: How to Get People To Seamlessly Take Action. Neil Patel. 2014. https: // www.Forbes.com/sites/neilpatel/2014/10/13/foot-in-the-door-technique-ho.
• An Explanation of the foot-in-the-door technique with exams. Ruja Borkar. https: // psychologenie.com/Explanation-of-FOOT-INOOR-Technique-With-Example