From Robert Cialdini’s “Influence”
Commitment and Consistency Principle.
- “Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment. Those pressures will cause us to respond in ways that justify our earlier decision.” (p. 57)
- “The drive to be (and look) consistent constitutes a highly potent weapon of social influence, often causing us to act in ways that are clearly contrary to our own best interests.” (p. 59)
- “But because it is so typically in our best interests to be consistent, we easily fall into the habit of being automatically so, even in situations where it is not the sensible way to be. When it occurs unthinkingly, consistency can be disastrous. Nonetheless, even blind consistency has its attractions.” (p. 60)
- “Once we have made up our minds about an issue, stubborn consistency allows us a very appealing luxury: We really don’t have to think hard about the issue anymore.” (p.60)
Consistency Examples:
- When someone makes a bet on the horsetrack, after they make the bet, they feel even more confident that they will win. “They simply convinced themselves that they had made the right choice and, no doubt, felt better about it all.” (p. 58)
- An experiment was done. An experimenter would listen to his radio on the beach. He would get up and leave. Another experimenter pretended to be a thief and grabbed the radio. The bystander did nothing. This experiment was done again, except the experimenter asked a bystander to watch his stuff while he left. When the “thief” tried to steal the radio, the bystander chased him down!
- There is a sales meeting about TM Meditation. After the sales pitch, a person tells the TM salesman logical reasons why TM won’t work. Instead of people being hesitant they sign up quickly! They sign up quickly because they don’t want to have someone else change their minds. “Something must be done at once before logic takes its toll and leaves them without hope again.” (p. 63) “Quick, a hiding place from thought! Here, take this money. Whew, safe in the nick of time. No need to think about the issues any longer.” (p. 63)
- Toy companies purposely don’t stock up on hot toys during Christmas. They know parents must buy a toy for their kids on Christmas, and then come back in January to buy the hot toys that sold out. They know parents promise the hot toys for their kids.
Commitment Examples:
“If I can get you to make a commitment (that is, to take a stand, to go on record), I will have set the stage for your automatic and ill-considered consistency with that earlier commitment. Once a stand is taken, there is a natural tendency to behave in ways that are stubbornly consistent with the stand.” (p. 67)
- A marketer called people and told them they were doing a survey. They asked them if they would spend time to help charity in the future. Then a few days later, American Cancer Society called these people. They asked if they would spend time to help them. The survey calls helped increase the amount of people willing to spend time to help charity.
- A marketer called and surveyed people if they would vote or not. This increased the real vote turnout.
- The Chinese got American soldiers to tell their secrets. They did this by slowly getting prisoners to write down that Chinese Communism is good. First they made prisoners write down some small good things about Communism and write down some small bad things about America. Then they were pushed to write more good things about Communism and bad things about America. They were asked to explain their reasoning in more detail. The Chinese made the prisoners sign these documents. The prisoners had to read these documents to the other prisoners. These documents were read on the radio and the prisoner now has an image of being a collaborator. Now the prisoner needs to be consistent and match the image of being a collaborator. He collaborates with the Chinese more and more.
Foot in the Door Technique.
- A volunteer asked a homeowner to put a little 3 inch square sign that saids “Be a safe driver.” A couple weeks later a volunteer asked this home owner to put a giant sign in front of their house saying “Drive Carefully” and it often worked!
- A volunteer asked a homeowner to sign a petition that said “keeping California beautiful.” Two weeks later a different group asked the homeowner to put a giant sign that saids “Drive Carefully” and it often worked! Signing the petition “keeping California beautiful” gave the homeowners a new image of themselves so they need to be consistent with their new image.
Low Balling Technique.
“No matter which variety of lowballing is used, the sequence is the same: An advantage is offered that induces a favorable purchase decision; then, sometime after the decision has been made but before the bargain is sealed, the original purchase advantage is deftly removed.” (p. 99)
- Car dealers give a very good price on a car. Then they said they made a “mistake” and raise the price. The customer still buys the car and feels guilty that the price was too low.
- An experimenter told homeowners if they lowered their fuel costs, they would publicize their names as fuel saving citizens. One month later said they said they would no longer would be able to publicize their names in the newspaper. The homeowner continued to lower their fuel costs.
Other Good Quotes:
“Other compliance professionals also know about the committing power of written statements. The enormously successful Amway Corporation, for instance, has hit upon a way to spur their sales personnel to greater and greater accomplishments. Members of the staff are asked to set individual sales goals and commit themselves to those goals by personally recording them on paper:” (p. 79)
“The companies have since learned a beautifully simple trick that cuts the number of such cancellations drastically. They merely have the customer, rather than the salesman, fill out the sales agreement.” (p. 79)
“Another common way for businesses to cash in on the “magic” of written declarations occurs through the use of an innocent-looking promotional device.” (p. 80) They ask customers to write a small essay.
“it is hardly surprising that people try to avoid the look of inconsistency. For appearances’ sake, then, the more public a stand, the more reluctant we will be to change it.” (p. 82)
“No more, though. I listen to my stomach these days. And I have discovered a way to handle people who try to use the consistency principle on me. I just tell them exactly what they are doing. It works beautifully. Most of the time, they don’t understand me; they just become sufficiently confused to want to leave me alone.” (p. 107)