Ben Franklin effect
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The Ben Franklin effect is a psychological finding: A person who has done someone a favor is more likely to do that person another favor than they would be if they had received a favor from that person. Similarly, one who harms another is more willing to harm them again than the victim is to retaliate.[1]
For modern research on this phenomenon, see the foot-in-the-door technique.
In the words of Benjamin Franklin, who famously observed the paradox and for whom it is named, "He that has once done you a Kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged."[2]
[edit] Notes
- ^ A more detailed explanation appears at the page on the Ben Franklin effect at changingminds.org.
- ^ From The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, as given in Benjamin Franklin: Writings, ed. J.A. Leo Lemay (NY: Library of America, 1987), p. 1404. ISBN 0-940450-29-1.
