"It is natural to feel a strong pull to behave in accordance with someone else’s wishes when that person is an intimate other but very little reason to do so otherwise, especially when there is no direct or immediate “return on investment,” as is the case with charitable requests. Fundraisers, social marketers, and other influence agents have perfected the art of gaining compliance from consumers they have never met before and may well never encounter again. How they do it has been a decades-long mystery at which behavioral scientists have been cracking away. Being presented with a glib heuristic is becoming less effective, most likely because people’s “schemer schemas” (Campbell and Kirmani 2008; Friestad and Wright 1994) have become finely attuned to such transparent ploys, even when used in the interest of the noblest of causes. Our research reveals that one key feature of effective influence tactics is the wearing down of self-regulatory resources that would otherwise be put toward resistance. Although far from solving the puzzle, it surely is advantageous in this era of influence attempts to have even one more piece put into place."
A 19-page PDF research article
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