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What Is A 'Reason Why'? (Psychology)

Research shows that giving a Reason Why for your request increases dramatically people's compliance rate.

Humans are predisposed to look for behavioral causes. People will be more receptive if you give them a Reason Why.

Any reason will do.

Josh Kaufman Explains 'Reason Why'

Here's a fascinating quirk about asking people to do something: they'll be far more likely to comply with your request if you give them a reason to do what you ask.

In Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Dr. Robert Cialdini describes an ingenious experiment that demonstrates this principle in action.

In the 1970s, Ellen Langer, a psychologist at Harvard University, conducted a set of famous experiments about compliance-what makes people agree to a request. The experiments centered around a busy copy machine on the Harvard campus. Langer's students asked people waiting in line to use the copy machine if they could move to the front of the line, using various approaches.

A straightforward request was honored 60% of the time, but Langer found that adding a reason for the request increased the compliance rate to 95% - an astounding improvement.

The technique worked even if reason was vacuous - "because I have to make copies" worked just as well as "because I'm late for class" or "because I'm in a rush." All the reason had to do was supply a "because," and it was enough make people agree to the request.

Humans are predisposed to look for behavioral causes. People will be more receptive to any request if you give them a reason why.

Any reason will do.

Questions About 'Reason Why'

• Whenever you make a request, do you give others a reason why they should comply?
• Do you give others a reason to do what you suggest?

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"Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking."

Alfred North Whitehead, mathematician and philosopher

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