Sociocultural Level of
Analysis:
Social and Cultural Norms
Part II
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Compliance – the result of direct pressure
to respond to a request.
Robert Cialdini outlined compliance
techniques (ways in which individuals are
influenced to comply with the demands or
desires of others.)
Compliance techniques are used for
advertising and marketing, where sales
tactics are examined in the basis of what
would most likely to persuade consumers to
buy specific products.
Social Influence: compliance
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Authority: people comply more often with those in
positions of some authority.
Commitment: once people have agreed to so
something, either by their behavior or by a
statement of belief, they are more likely to comply
with similar requests.
Liking: people comply with requests from people
they like.
Reciprocity: people often feel they need to “return
a favor”
Scarcity: opportunities seen more valuable to
people when they are less readily available. This is
why there are so many “last chance” and “limited
time only” sales.
Social proof: people view a behavior as correct if
they see others performing it.
Compliance Techniques
The result of direct
pressure to respond to a
request.
The result of direct pressure to respond to a request.
conformity
compliance
commitment
People view a behavior as
correct if they see others
performing it.
People view a behavior as correct if they see others
performing it.
social proof
liking
authority
Once people have agreed to so something,
either by their behavior or by a statement
of belief, they are more likely to comply
with similar requests.
Once people have agreed to so something, either by their
behavior or by a statement of belief, they are more likely
to comply with similar requests.
commitment
authority
reciprocity
People often feel they need
to “return a favor”.
People often feel they need to “return a favor”
reciprocity
scarcity
liking
Opportunities seen more valuable
to people when they are less
readily available. This is why
there are so many “last chance”
and “limited time only” sales.
Opportunities seen more valuable to people when they
are less readily available. This is why there are so many
“last chance” and “limited time only” sales.
reciprocity
scarcity
liking
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Reciprocity principle – the social norm that we
should treat others the way they treat us.
Arousal of feelings of guilt plays a key role in
reciprocity.
Many cultures offer gifts, free travel, or free
time in hotels to potential customers, this
makes the person feel guilty into purchasing
their product.
Lynn and McCall (1998) found that when
restaurant customers are given a mint or sweet
with their bill, the size of the tip they leave
increases.
Reciprocity
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Reciprocity does not always involve giving gifts.
It can also be because the other person has
already compromised on what he or she
wanted, and that this compromise should be
acknowledged with some behavior.
Door-in-the-face-technique – a request is
made which will surely be turned down. Then a
second request is made which asks less of
someone. People are more likely to accept the
second request because they feel the person has
already lowered the request in order to
accommodate them.
Reciprocity
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Door-in-the-face technique study by Cialdidni et.
Al (1975)
– Cialdini asked students to volunteer to counsel juvenile
delinquents for two hours a week for two years.
– After their refusal, they were asked to chaperone
juvenile delinquents on a one-day trip to the zoo.
– 50% agreed to chaperone the trip to the zoo as compared
to 17% of participants who only received the zoo request.
– Additionally, Cialdini created a control group where the
experimenter described both the extreme and the smaller
favor, and then the participant was requested to perform
either one.
– Only 25% of the students agreed to the zoo request. This
demonstrates that exposure to the more extreme task is
irrelevant and does not greatly affect compliance.
– Door-in-the-face technique will only affect compliance
rates if the extreme request is rejected first.
Reciprocity
Cialdini argues that once people make a
choice or take a stand, they will
encounter personal and interpersonal
pressures to behave consistently with
that commitment.
 Kurt Lewin (1951) argued that behavior
is motivated by goal gradients. The
longer people commit themselves to
something, the less likely they are to
abandon the goal.
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Commitment
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Foot-in-the-door technique – getting
people to make a commitment to something
small, with the hope of persuading them to
agree to something larger.
Dickerson et. Al (1992) – had students sign
a poster committing to take shorter
showers, and they gave them a survey that
made them think about their water usage.
Students who signed the poster and
completed the survey had average shower
times of about 3.5 minutes. Much lower than
other university students in the same dorms.
Commitment
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Cialdini (1974) demonstrated the low-balling
technique by asking students to participate in an
experiment. 56% agreed, before being told that
the experiment started at 7:00 AM. They then
told the volunteers that the study was scheduled
at 7:00 AM, and the volunteers could withdraw if
they wished. None did so, and 95% turned up at
the scheduled time (the Low-Ball group). When a
control group was asked to participate and were
told the unsocial timing of the experiment up
front, only 24% agreed to participate.
Commitment
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The low-ball is a persuasion and selling
technique in which an item or service is
offered at a lower price than is actually
intended to be charged, after which the price
is raised to increase profits.
If a person is already enjoying the prospect
of an excellent deal and the future benefits of
the item or idea then backing out would
create cognitive dissonance, which is
prevented by playing down the negative
effect of the "extra" costs.
Commitment
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Hazing- a series of initiation rites in order to
join an exclusive group, such as a sports
team, or university fraternity.
– The individual must first choose to join the group,
recognizing that there will be some imitation rite
which her or she will have to endure.
– During the hazing, the participant must rationalize
that this is “worth it” in order to be part of the
group.
– Having completed the hazing, the individual has a
sense of accomplishment, having proven his/her
loyalty.
Commitment
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Hazing
– Aronson and Mills (1959) investigated dissonance using an
effort justification paradigm. Female participants, who were
joining a discussion group about the psychology of sex, were
either accepted into the group (control condition), had to go
through a mild initiation, which involved reading aloud sexrelated words, or had to go through a severe initiation by
reading aloud explicit sec words (Aronson 1959). When the
participants were later asked the rate the discussion and the
group members, those who went through severe initiation
rated both categories much higher than both the control and
mild initiation groups. Because the female participants had to
justify the effort and humiliation they experienced to enter
the group, they rated the group as more attractive than the
other conditions.
– Gerard and Mathewson (1966) women received electric
shocks. Those who endured pain as part of their initiation
were more likely to find their group interesting, intelligent,
and desirable.
Commitment
This study found that when
restaurant customers are given
a mint or sweet with their bill,
the size of the tip they leave
increases.
This study found that when restaurant customers are given a mint or
sweet with their bill, the size of the tip they leave increases.
Lynn and McCall
Aronson and Mills
Gerard and
Mathewson
A request is made which will surely be
turned down. Then a second request is
made which asks less of someone. People
are more likely to accept the second
request because they feel the person has
already lowered the request in order to
accommodate them.
A request is made which will surely be turned down.
Then a second request is made which asks less of
someone. People are more likely to accept the second
request because they feel the person has already
lowered the request in order to accommodate them.
Door-in-the-face-technique
Foot-in-the-door technique
Face-in-the-door-technique
A persuasion and selling technique in
which an item or service is offered at a
lower price than is actually intended to be
charged, after which the price is raised to
increase profits.

Low-ball
Mid-ball
High-ball
Getting people to make a commitment to
something small, with the hope of
persuading them to agree to something
larger.
Getting people to make a commitment to
something small, with the hope of persuading
them to agree to something larger.
Door-in-the-face-technique
Foot-in-the-door technique
Face-in-the-door-technique
Commitment involves a series of initiation
rites in order to join an exclusive group,
such as a sports team, or university
fraternity.
TRUE OR FALSE?
False
True
Commitment involves a series of initiation
rites in order to join an exclusive group,
such as a sports team, or university
fraternity.
In this study women received electric shocks.
Those who endured pain as part of their
initiation were more likely to find their group
interesting, intelligent, and desirable.
In this study women received electric shocks. Those who endured pain
as part of their initiation were more likely to find their group
interesting, intelligent, and desirable.
Lynn and McCall
Aronson and Mills
Gerard and
Mathewson