Foot-in-the-door Principle/Technique
Foot-in-the-door (FITD) technique is a compliance tactic that aims at getting a person to agree to a large request by having them agree to a modest request first.
This technique works by creating a connection between the person asking for a request and the person that is being asked. If a smaller request is granted, then the person who is agreeing feels like they are obligated to keep agreeing to larger requests to stay consistent with the original decision of agreeing. This technique is used in many ways and is a well-researched tactic for getting people to comply with requests.
What if someone asks you for a small favour? Would you oblige? Of course you would. Once you've done that small favour, it opens up the floodgates to you doing ever larger favours. It can be shown in the following example that how effective it can be of getting people to do what you want.
Here comes the living example of someone applying this technique on me to build a connection with me:
The main character of this true story is the manager of a restaurant I frequently visit. Once he shut the restaurant after a busy evening while I was done with my dinner. He surprised me by asking me for favours out of my expectation. Firstly he asked me to arrange a Uber for him, because he didn't have his car that night, and he was going to see his friends. Well he could have done it himself completely, as he had his phone with him and Uber payments are always being processed online. This was strange but I didn't mind as it was no harm. I explained that I was not able to get a Uber because my online payment was not working, I could arrange a taxi instead. And I actually did. After I arranged a taxi, he then claimed that he left his wallet at home, and kindly asked me if I could lend him $30 cash. In this case he could have asked any of his friends while reaching the destination. It was just a small amount which I never care, not a big deal at all. I ended up with just easily lending him the cash.
As I had done the initial small favour, it made me a lot more likely to then help him with anything else, even though I'm not his friend. I felt we'd almost made a connection. If you ask for that small favour and make that connection, you can control someone and make them do you a bigger favour without them even realising it.
Well that was a pushover, but sometimes I'm a bit harder to convince when it comes to the bigger favour. I have to maintain my boundaries and limits when it comes to something bigger, by thinking over and over again to make sure it is within my ability and fair for me, and doesn't cause me any harm or big loss. While dealing with money, I just treat it as I will not get it back. Thus I only lend out the amount I can afford to lose. Before I decide to do people bigger favours, I have to consider various factors, such as who they are, how close they are to me, and the worst result it might lead to. I'm responsible for myself to be ready to deal with whatever might come up. We all are responsible for ourselves!
