IB Psychology 2.3 Sociocultural Approach Questionbank

Cialdini and colleagues investigated a technique for increasing compliance. Researchers approached university students and first made a very large request, asking them to volunteer as unpaid counsellors for young offenders for two hours a week over two years. Almost everyone refused. The researchers then made a smaller request: to chaperone a group of young offenders on a single two-hour trip to the zoo. Students who had first refused the large request were much more likely to agree to the smaller one than students who were only ever asked the smaller request directly. The researchers called this the 'door-in-the-face' technique and explained it through reciprocal concessions: when the requester appears to back down from a large request to a smaller one, the person feels pressure to make a concession in return by agreeing.

References: Cialdini, R. B., Vincent, J. E., Lewis, S. K., Catalan, J., Wheeler, D. and Darby, B. L., 1975. 'Reciprocal concessions procedure for inducing compliance: the door-in-the-face technique.' Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31(2), pp. 206 to 215. source adapted.

As a camp organiser, you have been asked to build cooperation between rival groups.