In this post I am going to talk about a research conducted by Ellen Langer at Harvard in 1978 to demonstrate the power of the word “because”.
How was the research structured?
The researchers would observe someone waiting in line, at the copy machine of the library.
They would intentionally cut this innocent bystander waiting in line and use any one of the 3 questions mentioned below:
- Type 1 ( Plain Request): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine?”
- Type 2 ( Plain Request + Lame Reason): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I have to make copies?”
- Type 3 ( Plain Request + Legitimate Reason) : “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”
I know, you might be thinking Type 2 wouldn’t have worked as it had such a lame reason “because I have to make copies”. Why do you think I am standing in line mate? But, surprisingly it worked too!!!!!
The Result
Conclusion
Using the word “ because” and following that up with a reason resulted in greater compliance.
The same was true even when the reason was as lame as “ I have to make copies”.
This resulted in a hypothesis that people go on automatic behavior and that hearing the word because followed by a reason (however lame) would cause them to comply.
They repeated the experiment for a request to copy 20 pages rather than five. In that case, only the “because I’m in a rush” reason resulted in heightened compliance.
In his best-selling book, Influence, Robert Cialdini explained this phenomenon by saying, “A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.”
So what does this all mean? When the stakes are low people will engage in automatic behavior. If your request is small, follow your request with the word “because” and give a reason.
If the stakes are high, then there could be more resistance, but still not too much.
A genuine reason goes a long way. If you have a genuine and honest reason then people generally will comply.
References
Langer, E., Blank, A., & Chanowitz, B. (1978). The mindlessness of Ostensibly Thoughtful Action: The Role of “Placebic” Information in Interpersonal Interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(6), 635-642.
