Hello, everyone,
"In the door-in-the-face technique, a large, unreasonable request is made, which is turned down; this is followed by a smaller more reasonable request. People are more likely to agree to this smaller second request when it is placed in the context of the more unreasonable request than if it had been placed at the outset. The success of this technique may be related to the reciprocity social norm, the rule that we should pay back in kind what we receive from others. The person asking for our support or assistance, appears to have made a concession by giving up their initial request, for a much smaller one. As a result, we feel compelled to reciprocate and agree to the smaller request. A common application of door-in-the-face is when teens ask their parents for a large request (attending an out-of-town concert) and then when the permission is denied, asking them for something smaller (attending a local concert). Having denied the larger request increases the likelihood that parents will acquiesce in the later, smaller request."
1. When in the underlined part of the passage above I see the 'the case' as an omitted preceding noun for the 'when' as a fused relative adverb, I think the 'asking' should be corrected into "ask" as a present tense, since this 'asking' is in parallel structure with the first 'ask'.
2. Also, I think the underlined part could be reduced with a participle phrase into "A common application of door-in-the-face is when teens ask their parents for a large request (attending an out-of-town concert), asking them for something smaller (attending a local concert), when the permission is denied.
Is this parse plausible?
I would appreciate it, if I could hear your opinions,
* source; 'Introduction to Psychology' Adapted by: College of Lake County Faculty: Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest