Pideles un Favor!!!!!!!!

What can we learn about likeability from Benjamin Frankin?

Benjamin Franklin once remarked, “He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged.” In short, the best way of getting someone to like you is not to do them a favour, but rather to get them to do you a favour. The idea is theoretically sound. According to some psychologists, we spend much of our time justifying our actions to ourselves. It is as if we watch ourselves as an impartial observer, and then try to work out why we have done what we have done. Thus, if you can get someone to carry out a small favour for you, such as telling you the time or giving you some advice, they are likely to think that they helped you because they liked you. But does the theory really work? To find out, psychologists Jon Jecker and David Landy conducted a rather unusual study. First, they had participants win some money during an experiment. Then, soon after leaving the lab, the researchers asked some of the participants a favour, explaining that they were short of cash, and wondering if the participant would mind returning the money. Finally, participants were asked to rate how much they liked the researcher. As predicted by Franklin, the participants who returned the money liked the researcher far more than another group who were allowed to keep their winnings.

59 Seconds tip: The best way of getting someone to like you is not to do them a favour, but rather to get them to do you a small favour.

Jecker, J. and Landy, D. (1969). Liking a person as function of doing him a favor. Human Relations, 22, 371-378.