The Door-In-The-Face(DITF) technique is a compliance gaining technique. It is a method in which when trying to get something from someone a large request is made knowing that it will be rejected, in effort to make a second request that was originally the goal that will be accepted.
The study by Nicolas Gueguen, Ph.D. 2003 explored the effectiveness of the “door in the face technique” when asking for donations for humanitarian organization online. The rationale for this study was that most studies done already did not prove well enough that a physical solicitor was needed for the door in the face technique to be more effective. The study consisted of 1,607 men and women who were randomly selected from a list of addresses taken from the internet. These men and women were randomly chosen from various software’s that browse the internet to find addresses that fit a certain parameter, the parameter being it had to be on a French server. For this study they created a website that favored a humanitarian cause. The site was made to support children that are affected by landmines in war torn areas all across the world. Emails sent to the door in the face group and the control group contained a link that read “Spend five minutes of your time on the children that were victim of mines by clicking on”. The home page for the DITF group had a link that said “Help these children!” while the link on the homepage for the control group said “Help the children by asking for a donation form”. When the DITF Link was activated it sent the subjects to a page asking for them to donate 2-3 hours a week for 6 months to help gain members to the site and help the site expand. This request was followed by an accept and decline buttons. The control group when they activated their link were sent directly to a donation page where they could choose already established organizations to donate to. If the DITF subjects chose the accept button (only 2 out of 771 accepted) the were sent to a page where they would enter their information. If they chose the decline button they were sent directly to the same page as the control group where they were asked to make a small donation. The two dependent variables in this study were the choice to consult or not the page that donations could be made. This study reveals the significant differences between the amount of people between the two experimental groups that activated the donation refusing an earlier expensive request made people more willing to visit the Web page where donations could be made. The results of the study were the DITF group were more willing to visit the donation page after they rejected the first over expensive request.
Application of Theory to Media
The media source I chose to use is a scene from the movie Project X. The scene I chose to use is in the beginning of the movie when Thomas Cubs’ (Thomas Mann) friends come over to his house in the morning to discuss birthday plans. The environmental context of this situation is that Thomas Cubs’ parents are going away for the weekend to celebrate their anniversary but it is also his birthday. The situational context behind this scene is that Thomas’s best friend wants him to do something fun for his birthday. His friend hates that they haven’t done anything fun in high school and it’s their senior year also has hopes of helping his friend Thomas get with a girl. The cultural context in this type of film is that when guys are 18 and soon to be off going to college they should have lost their virginity by then. And Costa played by Oliver Cooper wants to help his friend do such. This scene depicts the DITF technique because even though Thomas could care less about what Costa was saying, he knew he had a point. Thomas knew his parents wouldn’t go for it, so he started off by asking if he could have a birthday party. His father rejected that request quickly, it was then followed up with the request of having a couple friends over. His parents accepted that request because it wouldn’t be fair that that they were leaving him on his birthday weekend. Thomas’s request to have a few friends over for his birthday is an example of the Door-in-the-face method because it is more simple compared to when he asked to have a party.
Application of Theory to Personal Life
The personal interaction I chose that best displays the technique at hand happened during Thanksgiving last year. I had just come back from school earlier that week and started to coin the idea of flying to Miami for Spring Break with some of my friends. The environmental context of this interaction was my whole family at the dinner table. And my older siblings and cousins were talking about their past trips and upcoming ones. The psychological context behind this interaction is that I haven’t been on a trip in years. My parents could tell that I was upset that I was the only one not flying to different state or countries. My parents and I have very similar cultural beliefs considering the fact that they raised me and I have similar interests as them as well. They know that I know I can’t just get up and decide I want to go here and there with my friends. The first request I made was for them to pay for the plane ticket and the hotel room. I knew they would say no to this request because it would be very expensive. As expected my parents rejected the initial request to pay for the trip. I could tell my parents felt guilty because them saying no would mean I couldn’t enjoy Spring Break with my friends and also having to hear about what everyone else in my family would be doing. I then came back and asked for them to split the airfare with me, while my friends and I covered the living cost while in Miami. My parents then agreed to this request. If I did not ask for them to pay for the entire trip initially they wouldn’t have even considered my second request,
The Door-In-The-Face technique has been shown in studies to work better than just a goal request only, by 30%. As I discussed in this paper the DITF technique increases the odds of getting people to donate to humanitarian organizations online. The scene from Project X depicts the Door-in-the-face technique exactly by showing how getting your first request rejected leads you to getting your goal. My personal connection shows the effectiveness of the method and how you can achieve your smaller goals by requesting bigger things at first.