Analysis Of The Foot-In-In-The-Door Technique

The foot-in-the-door technique is known as a sequential request strategy in that it reviews the order in which a request is made and how that impacts the influence of the request. The foot-in-the-door technique begins with a small request that is made and accepted by the recipient and then is followed by a second request or a goal request. A goal request is when the inquirer requests something from someone with an objective for the outcome already in mind. The research article, “Recruiting Teen Smokers in Shopping Malls to a Smoking-Cessation Program Using the Foot-in-the-Door Technique”, the relationship between Dwight Schrute and Angela Martin in the television series The Office, and my own personal experiences all demonstrate how the foot-in-the-door …show more content…
The technique is composed of small requests followed by larger ones and Angela used this foot-in-the-door technique to keep her relationship with Dwight alive. Both Dwight and Angela expressed their feelings for each other early on in the series, but publicly ended their relationship when Dwight showed interest in another woman. Angela first used the foot-in-the-door technique to get back with Dwight by flirting and asking to having secret meetings with him during work hours over a long period of time. Dwight accepted these small requests of seeing each other privately and intimately. Following her small requests, Angela then made a larger request of asking Dwight to sign a contract stating that they would have sex five times, at her request, in order to make a baby together and eventually get married (Daniels, Gervais, Merchant, Silverman, 2005). As a result of Dwight accepting her small requests, Angela was able to ask a larger request, thus using the technique efficiently. Angela’s overall goal request for using this technique was to get Dwight to want to marry her and start a family with her for who she is. With every request Angela made, it kept her in Dwight’s mind and kept his feelings for her alive. After the contract, Angela got pregnant with a child who everyone thought was another mans, but it was really Dwight’s. Her goal request was eventually achieved because Dwight proposed to her when he thought that baby was another mans, but it was really his. The overall environmental context of Dwight and Angela’s relationship was in secret throughout the office. The situational context was that Angela was emotionally attached to Dwight and wanted him to be emotionally attached and love her. In relational context, Angela thought her and Dwight were more than friends. Psychologically,