Manipulation Flashcards

1
Q

What is reciprocation?

A
  •  Reciprocation = we should try to repay what another person has given us.
    • Even if gift/favour is unwanted
    • Even if we don’t know the person
    • tends to overwhelm other factors such as liking
    • The “favour” returned doesnt have to be of equal value
  • The “Door in the Face” tactic
    • If someone makes a concession, we should make one too
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2
Q

Give experimental examples of reciprocity

A
  • “Joe” and a drink: Regan
    • Joe leaves and comes back either empty handed or with a coke for both
    • Joe then sells raffle tickets
    • Results: Participants who received the coke bought more raffle tickets than
      participants who did not. Reciprocity overwhelmed the importance of “liking” Joe
  • Cialdini et al. Zoo escort (Door in the face technique)
    • Chaperone juveniles to zoo 17% compliance
    • Volunteer as counsellor for 2 years (0%), or chaperone juveniles to zoo 51% compliance
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3
Q

Why is Reciprocity thought to work?

A
  • Reciprocation is an adaptive mechanism:
    • Our sense of obligation has a future orientation - societies function in a network of reciprocity of food and skills: Repaying an unsolicited gift fosters a reciprical relationship
  • Desire not to be indebted
  • Desire to be seen as socially desireable
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4
Q

Does reciprocity increase follow through rates?

A
  • Miller et al: Small favour vs door in the face conditions
    • Volunteer rates: request only 29%, door condition: 76%
    • Show up rates: request only 50%, door condition 85%
  • Reciprocity increases satisfaction and responsibility towards decisions
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5
Q

What is the contrast principle?

A
  • Our judgement of a person/object will be influenced by the person/object that we compare it to.
    • Relates to door in the face reciprocity: after anchoring to a high value option, the smaller seems much less strenuous
  • Examples:
    •  Kenrick & Gutierres: Female students rated as less attractive by males if they were watching “Charlie’s Angels”
    • Buying a car: optional extras are offered after the price for a new car has been negotiated
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6
Q

What are some tactics to fight the reciprocity principle?

A
  • Decline the initial favour or gift
  • Accept but mentally redefine: gifts/favours/concessions as “sales strategies”
  • Turn their weapon of influence against them
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7
Q

What is the Liking manipulation tactic? What four factors determine liking?

A
  • People tend to favour and comply with people that they know and like
  • Four factors determine whether or not we like someone
    • Physical attractiveness
    • Similarity
    • Contact and co-operation
    • Conditioning and association
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8
Q

What is the Halo Effect? Give some examples of the effect of attractiveness

A
  • The Halo Effect: Tendecy to think that attractive people must also have other attractive qualities
  • attractive people more likely to :
    • be rated as brighter and more successful, be hired for a job, receive more votes as political candidates, recieve lighter sentences and avoid jail time
  • Experimental examples
    • Prisoner rehabilitation ( Kurtzburg et al. ) and plastic surgery: 1yr later, those with surgery less likely to return to prison
    • Heart Association Fundraiser (Reingen & Kernen): Attractive fundraiser raised 2x the donations as unattractive one
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9
Q

Give examples of research on the effect of similarity, including the mirror and match effect

A
  • The “Mirror and Match” effect:
    • Mimickry of customers produces a greater sense of liking and higher tips/purchase rates.
  • Emswiller, Deux, and Willitis: asked college students for money for phone call
    • people were more willing when the two were dressed similarly
  • Burger et al. asked the participant to critique an 8 page essay, manipulated shared birthday
    • Participants in the same birthday condition were more likely to comply
      (62. 2%) than those in the different birthday condition (34.2%)
  • Aune & Basil (1994): College campus fundraisers
    • doubled contributions received by saying “I’m a student, too”
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10
Q

What is the effect of contact on “liking”?

A
  • The more we are exposed to a person, the more positively we feel toward
    him/her
    • Exceptions: exposure is in unpleasant circumstances, initial impression very negative
  • Zajonc’s Mere Exposure Effect
    • Repeated exposure to any stimulus makes it more appealing
    • The effect is stronger when unaware that one has seen it before
  • Bornstein, Leone, & Galley:
    • half of participants subliminally exposed to a photo of a confederate
    • Those subliminally exposed to the confederate, were more persuaded by the confederate’s opinion
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11
Q

What is the effect of co-operation on “liking”?

A
  • When someone cooperates with us, it engenders feelings of liking (even if we were once enemies)
  •  Sherif et al Summer camp experiment
    •  Split boys attending summer camp into 2 groups and created hostility by using competitive tactics
    • Then “repaired” relationship using cooperative superordinate goals
  • Real world examples
    • Car salesmen who “fight” their manager for a better deal for you
    • Waiters/waitresses who give you free things despite management’s orders
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12
Q

How do conditioning and association effect “Liking”?

A
  • We like (and are more willing to comply with) people who are associated with positive feelings or events
  • Smith & Engel: models
    • Men who saw a car with a female model rated the car more positively than men who saw the same ad without the model
  • Razran:“The Luncheon technique”
    • Participants were presented with political statements they had rated before
    • the statements that gained in approval were those that had been shown
      while food was being eaten
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13
Q

How can you combat the Liking tactic?

A
  • Think back over your interaction and figure out how they got you to like them
  • Separate the person from the product
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14
Q

What is the Consistency-Commitment tactic of manipulation? What two techniques exploit this tactic?

A
  •  Humans have a fundamental desire to be, and to appear, consistent with their actions, statements, and beliefs
    • Once we make a commitment to a particular choice/option, we tend to stand by it and act accordingly
    • Consistency is an efficient heuristic
    • Cognitive dissonance: We bring our attitudes in line with our actions
  • “The Foot in the Door” technique
    • The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request in order to appear consistent
  • The “Low Ball” tactic
    • two-step compliance technique in which the manipulator secures an
      agreement with a request (Step 1) but then increases the size of that request by revealing hidden costs (Step 2)
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15
Q

Give some examples of the consistency/commitment effect

A
  • Sherman: giving to charity
    • Asked people to predict if they would give to door knockers
    • Few weeks later, sent charity door knocking: 700% increase
  • Freedman & Fraser foot in the door
    • Ask to put a small drive safely sticker in window (almost all agree)
    • 3 weeks later asked to put a 3m sign in front yard 76% of those who agreed to small request agreed
  • Real world:
    • Filling out your own sales agreement
    • Competitions: “Tell us why you like Nespresso in 25 words or less.”
    • Diet clinics get people to write down their goal weight and tell it to others
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16
Q

What is the difference between external and internal motivators?

A
  • Example of consistency/conformity effect: Freedman Child-rearing experiment: 22 boys and forbidden toy
  • External motivator (i.e., strong threats)
    • Short-term: elicited temporary compliance when there was the possibility of punishment
    • Long-term: did not lead to compliance as there was no longer a threat of punishment
  • Internal motivator
    • Short-term: elicited compliance and boys took responsibility for not playing with the toy
    • Long-term: maintained compliance as the boys had generated their own reasons for why it was wrong to play with the robot
17
Q

How can we avoid the consistency/commitment tactic?

A
  • Recognise that it is often effortful to back out of a negotiation
  • Trust your gut instinct
  • “Knowing what I know now, if I could go back in time, would I still make the
    same choice?”
  • Remember there is no such thing as a harmless request
18
Q

What is the Authority tactic of manipulation?

A
  • We defer to credible experts and authority figures to help us decide how to behave
    • especially when we are feeling ambivalent about a decision or when we are in an ambiguous situation
    • Doesn’t need to be a genuine authority figure (eg man in suit)
19
Q

What is the “Sleeper” Effect?

A
  • Effect of authority changes over time
    • The delayed increase in the persuasive impact of a non-credible source
    • Over time, we dissociate the source of theinformation from the message
      • Credible sources loose impact
      • Noncredible sources gain impact
  • Most reliable when you learn who the source is AFTER you have received the initial message
  • Won’t occur if you remind people of the source prior to asking them their attitude/opinion on the subject a few weeks later
20
Q

What are some examples of the effect of authority on behaviour?

A
  • Milgrim electric shock administration on others
    • 1 out of 4 stopped at “intense” level, 1 out of 8 stopped at “extreme” level. Over 60% were still obedient past XXX level
    • However, when experimenter delivered instructions by phone, only 20.5% continued to obey
  • Jaywalking study (Lefkowitz et al)
    • Three times as many pedestrians followed the experimenter in a business suit than when he was in casual clothing
  • Real World applications
    • Waiter/waitress giving “insider tips”
    • “Captinitis”
    • Oral B dentist, “scientific evidence”
21
Q

How can we reduce the effect of authority on judgement?

A
  • Ask: In this area, is this person an expert or just an authority figure?
  • are they trustworthy or are they using their authority to make me comply to a request that serves them?
22
Q

What is social validation? When is it most influential?

A
  • We look to others for cues on how to think, feel, and behave.
    • The actions of others validate our own actions.
  • Most influential when:
    • Watching others similar to ourselves
    • When we are uncertain about the “correct” course of action
23
Q

How can social validation be used in the real world?

A
  • Bandura: Social validation and phobias
    • Looked at pre-school children who were scared of dogs.
    • Had them watch another child playing with a dog for 20 minutes per day
    • After 4 days, 67% of these children were willing to climb into a playpen with a dog. Pesisted at 1 month
    • Follow up studies: videos work just as well, best when a variety of children shown playing
  • Role Models
    • LA drivers were more likely to help a female driver with a flat tyre if
      they had witnessed someone helping another woman change a tyre
    • British adults more willing to donate blood if approached just after observing a confederate agreeing to donate blood
  • Other Tactics in real world
    • Advertising: quality = quantity, “best-selling”, “Ordinary people” who give “unrehearsed” testimonies about how good a product is
    • Busking and tip-jars
    • Canned laughter
24
Q

What is the bystander effect?

A
  • A form of social validation that inhibits prosocial behaviour
    • where the presence of others inhibits helping
    • when uncertain, if others dont act neither do we
    • diffusion of responsibility
  • Kitty Genovese screamed for aid when being attacked but no one reacted
25
Q

How can we fight the social validation effect?

A
  • When help is needed
    • Counteract ambiguity: Make it clear that you need help
    • Reduce diffusion of responsibility:  single people out
  • Beware of social validation in two particular situations
    • When social validation is obviously being manipulated
    • At times when you decide to blindly follow the crowd
26
Q

What is the Scarcity heuristic and why does it work?

A
  • What is rare is valuable, what is in short-supply is desirable
    • Going from abundant to scarce higher than always scarce
    • Reason for scarcity: social demand is highest favoured
    • triggers a sudden surge of arousal/competitiveness.
  • Reactance theory
    • When our freedoms are restricted, we attempt to reassert our free choice by regaining exactly what was limited in the first place.
    • We react against the interference by wanting, and trying to possess, the item more than before
27
Q

Give some examples of the scarcity effect

A
  • Worchel et al Consumer preference study
    • Study 1: Rating taste of cookies.
      • Jar contained either 10 or 2 cookies
      • People rated the 2 cookies higher than 10 cookies
    • Study 2: Change in scarcity
      • Jar with 2, vs Jar with 10 replaced by 2
      • Change to scarcity rated higher than always scarce
    • Study 3: reason for scarcity
      • Reduced to 2 by original mistake or due to demand for first cookies elsewhere
      • Social demand condition rated highest
  • Real World:
    • Buy Now! Until stocks last etc
28
Q

How can we combat the scarcity effect?

A
  • Ask yourself—why do I want that product/service?
    • Just for the sake of owning it?
    • Just to stop anyone else from owning it?
    • For its function or utility? If so, remember that scarce things don’t function better