Chapter 7 Overcoming The Doormat Effect Essay

The main point Wharton Professor Adam Grant makes in the chapter 7: Overcoming the Doormat Effect of his book entitled Give and Take, published in 2014, is that givers or altruistic people can avoid becoming doormats by using sincerity screening, generous tit for tat, and advocating for others. In the beginning of this chapter, Grant brings up the reasons why givers often become doormats or pushovers: being too timid, too empathetic, and too trusting. Therefore, as trust is one of the reasons that turns givers into doormats, Grant states that givers can overcome this circumstance by using sincerity screening. Based on Give and Take, sincerity screening means trusting most of the people most of the time. Givers may use this strategy to identify …show more content…
For this reason, Grant suggests that givers may use generous tit for tat to overcome the problem. By using generous tit for tat, givers learn to adjust their reciprocity styles, they may act like matchers when they have to deal with takers, and then switch back into givers mode once in awhile. Additionally, timid is one of the reasons why givers become pushovers. Grant describes that timid givers tend to feel guilty asking people for promotion or asking for something that might make someone uncomfortable. Therefore, givers usually not ask for favor, and they do not get one either. To solve this situation, Grants discusses that givers may advocate for others instead of themselves, hence they will not feel bad because they negotiate for others’ interests, thus they will not think that they are takers as well. Lastly, Grant mentions that to become successful givers, they need to be otherish givers, which refers to givers who focus on the interests of themselves and of other people as well. Generally speaking, otherish givers can see the win-win solution, thus they can benefit both themselves and others, which can lead themselves and other people to