Popular ’Door-in-the-Face’ Persuasion Strategy Can Sometimes Backfire, Study Shows

AUSTIN, Texas — A manipulation strategy often used in marketing and fundraising known as "Door-in-the-Face" could backfire among less concrete thinkers, according to new research from The University of Texas at Austin. Used widely for decades, the Door-in-the-Face persuasion strategy begins with an extreme request (say, for a donation of $500) that ends with a proverbial door being slammed in the requester's face and quickly follows up with a more moderate, smaller request (a $10 gift). The goal is to get the person to agree to the small request, which presumably happens because the person feels guilty rejecting the extreme request. This technique is considered by professional solicitors and fundraisers to be more effective at getting people to agree to a small request than asking outright for the small request. However, a new psychology study, published this month in Social Psychological and Personality Science , shows an outright request may be more effective than the Door-in-the-Face method. In fact, the manipulation strategy could potentially cause some people to turn away from good deeds altogether, says Marlone Henderson , assistant professor of psychology and lead author of the study. "People who think in the abstract are more likely to have a sweeping perception of their core selves than those who consider only concrete aspects of themselves," Henderson says.