The "Rejection then retreat" variant of reciprocity

There is a second way to employ the reciprocity rule to get someone to comply with a request. The author of the book gives an example of a boy scout thatintroduced himself and said that he was selling tickets to the annual Boy Scouts circus. He asked to buy any at five dollars a piece. The autgor declined. “Well," the boy said, “if you don’t want io buy any tickets, how about buying some of our big chocolate bars? They’re only a dollar each.” The author bougth these and realized that something noteworthy had happened.

The general rule says that a person who acts in a certain way toward us is entitled to a similar return action. Another consequence of the rule, however, is an obligation to make a concession to someone who has made a concession to us. By seeing the second offer as a concession the Boy Scout made, the author felt obliged to honor the purchase of the chocolat to "get even".

The author called this the 'rejection-then-retreat' variant of the Reciprocity rule. In combination, the influences of reciprocity and perceptual contrast can present a fearsomely powerful force. Enibodied in the rejection-then-retreat sequence, their conjoined energies are capable of genuinely astonishing effects