Recently, two well-known catering companies, “Hai Di Lao” and “Xi Bei”, through crisis public relations, have timely resolved a price hike caused by fierce public criticism. Some critics believe that the price hikes of the two companies are withdrawn, which is not only a “white toss” but also detrimental to the brand value. In fact, whether it is a “white toss” or not, whether or not the brand value will actually be damaged, depends on the subsequent changes in customers’ consumption intentions.

So, will the customer ’s willingness to spend be reduced due to price hikes? In analyzing this issue, we believe that the potential positive impact of the concession decision of the two companies should not be underestimated. Although the concession decision means that the attempt to pass on the pressure of rising costs through price increases has failed, the customer’s willingness to consume may instead be significantly improved. It sounds incredible, but there is a solid psychological foundation behind it.

First, shaping the reciprocal norms of human society

Let ’s start with humans first Speaking of the reciprocal norms prevailing in society. There are slang and proverbs in Chinese and Western cultures that remind people to watch out for the favor of others. For example, “eating people with short mouths and soft hands” is an old saying that we Chinese often say, and there is also a “Gift Blinds the Eyes” in English. So why does accepting the grace of others make people “mouth-short” or blind? Would it be difficult to embrace the “don’t take nothing” mentality? The answer lies in the reciprocity norms that are deeply embedded in the human cultural genes.

The sociologist Alvin Goodner and others have made in-depth studies and asserted that all human societies have reciprocal norms. From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, this is mainly due to the evolutionary adaptability of reciprocity norms-in the process of human evolution, the people who are most likely to survive are our ancestors who can cooperate with each other and watch together.

The inheritance of cultural genes often requires a matching physiological basis. Some studies believe that the reason why human beings have evolved the two emotions of gratitude and guilt is actually to make reciprocity norms work. Specifically, the graciousness of others will make us grateful, and thus generate incentives to repay in time. If you don’t do the courtesy, and owe a favor to others, a sense of guilt that will bring people psychological pressure will come into being.

With the rise of evolutionary game theory, scientists have begun to view the reciprocal norms of human society from a new perspective. According to Anatole Raboport, a psychologist and game theory expert at the University of TorontoResearch, the specific way to follow the reciprocity norm is that people usually adopt the “Tit for Tat” game strategy in social exchange. The person who uses this strategy first starts with cooperation, and then takes the next action depending on the opponent’s actions-if the opponent cooperates, continue to cooperate; if the opponent refuses to cooperate, then not cooperate. Studies have shown that this strategy belongs to Evolutionarily Stable Strategy (ESS)-a strategy adopted by most members of the population. Under the pressure of natural selection, small mutant populations will either eventually choose evolutionary stabilization strategies or gradually disappear during evolution.


Second, “reciprocal concession” and the famous social psychologist’s “embarrassment”

Reciprocity norms are so rooted in human society So that some interested people will use this standard to “develop” self-interest strategies that allow others to act in a way that is conducive to the leader, and “reciprocal concession” is one of the very effective ones. Specifically, the “reciprocal concession” will first put a higher demand on the other party that is difficult to meet, and then make a “concession”, and the other party will subconsciously regard this “concession” as a “gift”, and Feeling that it is necessary to “repay this relationship”, he will readily respond to the request made by the responding party after “concession”, even if such a request does not really conform to the interests of the promisee.

When talking about “reciprocal concessions”, to talk about fun and enlightenment, perhaps the famous social psychologist Robert B. Theodini The professor’s personal experience and a series of experimental studies in the super best-selling book “Influence” .


“Influence” by Robert.B. Theodore

Professor Theodore has experienced such a “smear”: One day, the professor encountered a little boy on the street. The little boy first introduced himself and then asked the professor if he wantedYou need to buy a few tickets for $ 5 each to watch the annual Boy Scouts acrobatics show on Saturday evening. The little boy was politely declined by a professor who had never been interested in such things. However, the little boy did not give up, but continued to propose: “In this case, would you like to have some of our chocolate? Only one yuan a piece.” The professor immediately accepted the proposal and bought two pieces of chocolate very readily. However, the professor soon felt something was wrong-because he didn’t like chocolate at all, nor did he like to spend money casually. However, the little boy had already carried away with two dollars, leaving only the professor who was holding two pieces of chocolate in his hand to “clutter in the wind” alone.


Three. Experimental research on “reciprocal concessions”

Inspired by the above experience, Professor Theodini decided to “reciprocal Experimental research on the effect of concession. In one experiment, the researchers pretended to be staff members of the “Youth Counselling Project” and went to campus to ask college students whether they were willing to accompany a group of young offenders to visit the zoo.

Because of spending several hours with a group of juvenile offenders, and no financial compensation, only 17% of the students agreed to this request. However, for another group of randomly selected college students, the researchers adjusted the request method, but got very different results. So, what new method is so amazing?

Originally, the researchers put forward a bigger request before making this request-for at least two years, spend two a week Hour counselling for young offenders. Of course, everyone rejected this extreme request. So the researchers made a “concession” and proposed the aforementioned “small” request to accompany a group of young offenders to visit the zoo. This time, the success rate of researchers has dramatically increased-the proportion of students who agreed to this requirement exceeded 50%.

“Reciprocal concession” has been proved to be very effective. Yes, the effect is so great that even a famous social psychologist has fallen into the trap. But Professor Theodini thought he did n’t have much shame on his career, because he was still very smart, and he soon saw through the “trap”-if the little boy thought that the professor was easily deceived and returned to try ” Cut the leek once “, then the professor will refuse without hesitation. But for other people, it is very likely that even after seeing the “trap” in time, it will be difficult to achieve, so that it will be repeatedly “cutting the leek”.

In order to verify that the aftermath of reciprocal concessions still has power, perhaps at the same timeAfter “regaining some face” by himself, the professor once again launched an interesting experimental study. In this experiment, the researchers asked two groups of college students to donate 1 pint of blood in the blood donation activity on campus. For the first group of subjects, the researchers adopted a “reciprocal concession” strategy-first of all, they were required to donate 1 pint of blood every 6 weeks for at least 3 years. Make a smaller request: only give 1 pint of blood at this event. For the second group of subjects, the researchers initially asked them to donate only 1 pint of blood at this event.

Both groups of participants agreed to donate 1 pint of blood at this event, only the proportion of those who agreed in the first group was more High, and now we should not be surprised at this. However, the story is not over-for people who agree to donate blood and actually come to the blood donation center, the researchers ask them for a phone number so that they can contact them when there is a blood donation event in the future. The results of the study showed that among the students who were given a reciprocal concession strategy, almost everyone was willing to leave a number and agreed to participate in blood donation later. However, less than half of the students who were not given reciprocal concession strategies agreed with the researchers’ new requirements.

Conclusion

Professor Theodini ’s research on marketing It is very inspiring, but merchants may be dismissive of this, because their use of “reciprocal concessions” has long been familiar.

Give a common example in daily life. In the face of customer inquiries, the sales staff will generally report a higher price first. The customer certainly knows this and will “bargain”. At first, the salesperson will pretend to be tough, but in the end it will appear to be reluctant to quote a lower price. Reciprocity norms are now beginning to work-customers feel the need to reciprocate each other ’s concessions, and the way to repay is naturally to buy them out with ease. Sometimes, the sales staff will “add play”, that is to call the so-called superior leaders, repeatedly begging the leaders to report low-cost authorization to themselves. With this play, the “reciprocal concession” strategy is almost invincible.

Return to the recent price hikes of Haidilao and Xibei. Although we cannot know whether the two companies have intentionally adopted the reciprocal concession strategy, from the objective effect point of view, the behavior of price increase and withdrawal is likely to be almost the same as the reciprocal concession strategy.

Finally, we remind consumers to spend wisely and be wary of falling into reciprocal concessionsIntentionally set “traps”; merchants must operate in good faith and build a long-term foundation by providing quality services to customers. Consumer vigilance and merchant self-discipline have also promoted compliance with reciprocity norms as an evolutionary and stable strategy, making human society more harmonious and beautiful.

(Author Yao Yaojun is a professor at the School of Finance, Zhejiang Technology and Business University, and Yang Qiming is a teacher at the School of Economics and Management, Zhejiang University of Technology)