Lesson 31 登门槛效应
Foot-in-the-door effect
Dēng ménkǎn xiàoyìng
登门槛效应
Foot-in-the-door effect
Yīgè péngyou zài bàoshè dāng biānjí.
一个朋友在报社当编辑。
A friend works as an editor in a newspaper.
Yītiān tā qù qǐngjià, tā xiān wèn lǐngdǎo: “Nín jīntiān xīnqíng hǎo ma?”
一天他去请假，他先问领导：“您今天心情好吗？”
One day when he went to ask for leave, he first asked the leader: "Are you in a good mood today?"
Lǐngdǎo shuō: “Zěnmele?”
领导说：“怎么了？”
The leader said: "What's wrong?"
Péngyou dá: “Ń, rúguǒ nín xīnqíng hǎo, wǒ jiù shuō jiàn shì;
朋友答：“嗯，如果您心情好，我就说件事；
The friend replied: "Well, if you are in a good mood, I will talk about something;
xīnqíng bù hǎo jiù gǎitiān zàishuō.”
心情不好就改天再说。”
if you are in a bad mood, I will talk about it another day."
Lǐngdǎo yǒule xìngqù, jiǎ, jiù zhèyàng qīngyì de qǐng hǎole.
领导有了兴趣，假，就这样轻易地请好了。
The leader got interested, so he can easily ask for leave.
Bùdé bù shuō,
不得不说，
I have to say that
zhè wèi péngyou hěn huì lìyòng “dēng ménkǎn xiàoyìng” lái chǔlǐ wèntí.
这位朋友很会利用 “登门槛效应” 来处理问题。
this friend is very good at using the "threshold gate effect" to deal with problems.
Xīnlǐ xué jiā céng zuòguò “dēng ménkǎn jìshù” de xiànchǎng shíyàn.
心理学家曾做过 “登门槛技术” 的现场实验。
Psychologists have done field experiments on “threshold technology”.
Tāmen pài rén dào liǎng gè shèqū,
他们派人到两个社区，
They sent people to two communities
quàn rénmen zài wū qián lì yīkuài “xiǎoxīn jiàshǐ” de yuán xíng biāozhì.
劝人们在屋前立一块 “小心驾驶” 的圆形标志。
to persuade people to put up a circular sign of "Drive carefully" in front of the house.
Zài dì yī gè shèqū,
在第一个社区，
In the first community,
yánjiū rényuán zhíjiē xiàng rénmen tíchū yāoqiú, jiéguǒ hěnduō rén biǎoshì jùjué, jiēshòu lǜ jǐn wèi 17%.
研究人员直接向人们提出要求，结果很多人表示拒绝，接受率仅为17%。
researchers asked people directly, but many people refused, with an acceptance rate of only 17%.
Zài dì èr gè shèqū, yánjiū rényuán bǎ tóngyàng de shìqíng fèn chéng liǎng gè bùzhòu:
在第二个社区，研究人员把同样的事情分成两个步骤：
In the second community, researchers divided the same thing into two steps:
Xiān xiàng dàjiā chūshì yī fèn zànchéng ānquán jiàshǐ de qǐngyuàn shū, qǐngqiú tāmen zài shàngmiàn qiānzì,
先向大家出示一份赞成安全驾驶的请愿书，请求他们在上面签字，
First, showed everyone a petition in favor of safe driving and asked them to sign on it.
jǐ zhōu hòu zài tíchū lì pái yāoqiú, zhè cì jiēshòu zhě jìngrán dádàole 55%.
几周后再提出立牌要求，这次接受者竟然达到了55%。
A few weeks later, they asked for a license. This time the recipient reached 55%.
Dì yī gè bùzhòu de qiānzì shì hěn róngyì de, jīhū suǒyǒu rén dōu zhào zuòle,
第一个步骤的签字是很容易的，几乎所有人都照做了，
The first step is easy to sign, almost everyone has done it,
dàjiā kěnéng dōu méi yìshí dào,
大家可能都没意识到，
Everyone may not realize that
zhège xiǎo xiǎo de “dēng ménkǎn xíngwéi” duìjiē xiàlái de juédìng chǎnshēngle zhòngyào yǐngxiǎng.
这个小小的 “登门槛行为” 对接下来的决定产生了重要影响。
this small "threshold behavior" had an important impact on the next decision.
Rìcháng shēnghuó zhōng yěshì zhèyàng.
日常生活中也是这样。
This is also true in daily life.
Dāng nǐ xiǎng yāoqiú mǒu rén zuò mǒu jiàn jiào dà de shìqíng,
当你想要求某人做某件较大的事情，
When you want to ask someone to do a larger thing,
yòu dānxīn duìfāng bù yuànyì zuò shí,
又担心对方不愿意做时，
but you are worried that the other person is unwilling to do it,
kěyǐ xiān xiàng tā/tā tíchū zuò yī jiàn tóng lèixíng de, bǐjiào róngyì de shì.
可以先向他／她提出做一件同类型的、比较容易的事。
you can first ask him/her to do a similar and easier task.
Bǐrú nǐ xiǎng yǔ yīgè nǚhái tán liàn'ài,
比如你想与一个女孩谈恋爱，
For example, if you want to fall in love with a girl,
rúguǒ yī kāishǐ jiù pòqiè de tíchū yào gēn tā yuēhuì,
如果一开始就迫切地提出要跟她约会，
if you eagerly propose to date her at the beginning,
nǚhái kěnéng huì yóuyù, shènzhì biǎoxiàn dé hěn lěngdàn;
女孩可能会犹豫，甚至表现得很冷淡；
the girl may hesitate or even behave indifferently;
rúguǒ nǐ shuō “fàn zǒng shì yào chī de ba, yīqǐ chīfàn ba”,
如果你说 “饭总是要吃的吧，一起吃饭吧”，
if you say "you always have to eat, let's eat together",
tā dāyìngle, nà jiē xiàlái shì qù kàn diànyǐng háishì pào jiǔbā dōu wúsuǒwèile.
她答应了，那接下来是去看电影还是泡酒吧都无所谓了。
she agreed, and it didn't matter whether she would go to the movies or go to the bar next.
Nǐ xiǎng ràng tóngshì bāng nǐ zhíbān huò xiě bàogào shénme de,
你想让同事帮你值班或写报告什么的，
If you want a colleague to help you on duty or write a report or something,
zhíjiē shuō bāchéngr huì bèi jùjué, bǎ shìqíng móhú huà,
直接说八成儿会被拒绝，把事情模糊化，
just say that 80% of you will be rejected and obscure the matter.
“néng bùnéng bāng gè xiǎo máng”, “bù huì zhànyòng nǐ hěnduō shíjiān”,
“能不能帮个小忙”，“不会占用你很多时间”，
"Can you do me a little favor", "It won't take up a lot of your time",
Táijiē yī pù, shìqíng jiù róngyì duōle······
台阶一铺，事情就容易多了······
Once the steps are laid, things are much easier...
Nǐ kěnéng huì shuō,
你可能会说，
You might say that
zhèxiē xiǎodòngzuò huì ràng rén juédé nǐ hěn jiǎohuá.
这些小动作会让人觉得你很狡猾。
these little moves will make people think you are cunning.
Dànshì bùdé bù chéngrèn,
但是不得不承认，
But I have to admit that
yǒule zhèxiē xiǎodòngzuò de bāngzhù,
有了这些小动作的帮助，
with the help of these small actions,
biérén díquè gèng yuànyì jiēshòu nǐ de qǐngqiú.
别人的确更愿意接受你的请求。
others are indeed more willing to accept your request.
Yǒu shíhòu, dāng nǐ zì rènwéi liǎobùqǐ shí,
有时候，当你自认为了不起时，
Sometimes, when you think you are great,
biérén tōngcháng juédé nǐ zhè rén bùguò rúcǐ;
别人通常觉得你这人不过如此；
others usually think that you are nothing more than that;
kěshì dāng nǐ fàng dī shēnduàn shí, huì suōduǎn yǔ rén de jùlí,
可是当你放低身段时，会缩短与人的距离，
but when you lower your body, you will shorten the distance with others.
biérén bìng bù huì kànbùqǐ nǐ, fǎn'ér huì juédé nǐ wéirén qiānxū.
别人并不会看不起你，反而会觉得你为人谦虚。
Others will not look down on you, but will think you are humble.
Shíjiàn zhèngmíng,
实践证明，
Practice has proved that
dì èr zhǒng rén dédào de zǒng shì bǐ dì yī zhǒng rén gèng duō.
第二种人得到的总是比第一种人更多。
the second kind of people always get more than the first kind of people.
Gǎibiān zì “xiūxián”2011 nián dì 3 qī, zuòzhě: Guō míng er
改编自《休闲》2011年第3期，作者：郭茗儿
Adapted from "Leisure" Issue 3, 2011, author: Guo Minger
Full Translation
Foot-in-the-door effect
A friend works as an editor in a newspaper. One day when he went to ask for leave, he first asked the leader: "Are you in a good mood today?" The leader said: "What's wrong?" The friend replied: "Well, if you are in a good mood, I will talk about something; if you are in a bad mood, I will talk about it another day." The leader got interested, so he can easily ask for leave.
I have to say that this friend is very good at using the "threshold gate effect" to deal with problems. Psychologists have done field experiments on “threshold technology”. They sent people to two communities to persuade people to put up a circular sign of "Drive carefully" in front of the house. In the first community, researchers asked people directly, but many people refused, with an acceptance rate of only 17%.
In the second community, researchers divided the same thing into two steps: First, showed everyone a petition in favor of safe driving and asked them to sign on it. A few weeks later, they asked for a license. This time the recipient reached 55%. The first step is easy to sign, almost everyone has done it, everyone may not realize that this small "threshold behavior" had an important impact on the next decision.
This is also true in daily life. When you want to ask someone to do a larger thing, but you are worried that the other person is unwilling to do it, you can first ask him/her to do a similar and easier task.
For example, if you want to fall in love with a girl, if you eagerly propose to date her at the beginning, the girl may hesitate or even behave indifferently; if you say "you always have to eat, let's eat together", she agreed, and it didn't matter whether she would go to the movies or go to the bar next.
If you want a colleague to help you on duty or write a report or something, just say that 80% of you will be rejected and obscure the matter. "Can you do me a little favor", "It won't take up a lot of your time", Once the steps are laid, things are much easier...
You might say that these little moves will make people think you are cunning.
But I have to admit that with the help of these small actions, others are indeed more willing to accept your request. Sometimes, when you think you are great, others usually think that you are nothing more than that; but when you lower your body, you will shorten the distance with others.
Others will not look down on you, but will think you are humble.Practice has proved that the second kind of people always get more than the first kind of people.
Adapted from "Leisure" Issue 3, 2011, author: Guo Minger
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