| (From left to right) Raj Koothrappali, Sheldon Cooper, Penny, Leonard Hofstadter, and Howard Wolowitz. |
of the show is Sheldon Cooper, adored
for his socially awkward, yet lovable personality.
Compliance is a common form of social influence that is defined by changes in behavior that are elicited by direct request. This occurs when others would like us to behave a certain way, so they directly ask us to do so. Sometimes when people want something that they know most people would not agree to, they set traps in the form of sequential request strategies. While there are multiple strategies, the most common is the "foot-in-the-door" technique. In this two-step compliance technique, an influencer sets the stage for the real request by first getting a person to comply with a much smaller request.
Throughout the series of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon portrays a very smart scientist who lacks heavily in social skills. His blunt, to-the-point personality never fails to make his friends roll their eyes. Below, I have attached a scene in which Sheldon uses the "foot-in-the-door" technique on Penny in one of the most iconic scenes of The Big Bang Theory.
Earlier in the episode, Sheldon asks Penny if she can take care of him while he is sick, which is the "small favor". Penny reluctantly agrees. In this scene, Penny is tucking Sheldon into bed and when she goes to leave, Sheldon asks her if she can rub vapo-rub on his chest and sing him "Soft Kitty". Since Sheldon is sick, Penny feels obligated to do so. She eventually complies to his direct request and sings Sheldon the song, begrudgingly. This is the perfect example of the "foot-in-the-door" technique because Sheldon is using a small favor to ask for an even larger favor.
This is just one example of Sheldon using his "charm" on his friends. This show is full of cringeworthy scenes of Sheldon acting completely out of the ordinary by breaking social norms. It brings a new perspective to norms and compliancy and is sure to make you laugh. If you're interested in watching more episodes of The Big Bang Theory, check out the link below and let me know your favorite "Sheldon moments" in the comments!
https://www.cbs.com/shows/big_bang_theory/video/
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-qra604RbU&t=1s
https://www.cbs.com/shows/big_bang_theory/video/
Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2016). Social Psychology (10th ed., pp. 283-287). Boston, MA: Cengage.
Great post using a classic Sheldon scene where he gets what he wants. Its amazing what we'll comply with and agree to. And I like how you highlighted that since Sheldon is sick, Penny feels obligated to help. This is a great point because it shows how empathy could play a role in our compliance with a request. If we feel empathy towards a person we can feel the pain they are in and will want to help ease it, as seen with this scene.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that empathy has an impact on how we treat people and feel obligated to help them. I love how The Big Bang Theory highlighted that concept in this scene because it's so relatable to the audience.
DeleteI thoroughly enjoyed that scene! I don't watch the Big Bang Theory often, but would you say that Sheldon is generally successful in his sequential request strategies? Or, in general would you say that he's pretty good at getting the people around him to comply with him?
ReplyDeleteTo go off-of the comedy show theme - I think the character Michael Scott from The Office is a great example of someone who attempts to use many sequential request strategies but fails more often than not. Here's an example of everything not to do when trying to get a situation to work in your favor (in this case Michael is trying to find a new sales person):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7t-G7ynIo8
Sheldon does seems to get his way often in The Big Bang Theory due to his great knowledge of how to persuade people, but it's not always the most socially acceptable. I think the scene you provided with Michael Scott is another great example of compliance, but in his case it goes hilariously wrong.
DeleteI watch The Office and The Big Bang Theory and I would agree that Sheldon and Michael are equally socially awkward. Great comparison!
Sheldomn does certainly seem to always get his way. While I haven't seen all of this show, I have seen a fair amount. There are instances when Sheldon tries and fails to convince the others to comply with his request. It would be interesting to compare one of these with his successes to see why he failed. Was it circumstance, wording, frequency of request, or some other factor?
ReplyDeleteI also haven't seen all of the episodes, but that would be great to look into. I'll definitely keep that in mind as I continue through the series.
DeleteI found this to be a very entertaining way to look at compliance. But not only that it was a very good example of compliance as well. One thing I did notice was, though Penny did fulfill the requests in a begrudging manner, the second request of the song was not that much larger than the first. And I do think it helped that Penny and Sheldon were friends prior to the requests, it would have been harder to get a stranger to comply with requests such as these.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I don't think a stranger would rub Vapo-Rub on his chest and sing him a weird song about cats. And although the two requests seemed fairly similar, I think Penny would have been less likely to sing the song if she wasn't already roped into rubbing Vapo-Rub on his chest.
DeleteThis is good knowledge for the future, in getting people to agree with what you ask of them! I do feel like it would've been a better example if she had initially denied his request, and he followed up with soft kitty. OR if he had been asking a stranger, maybe he could have worked his way up to the vapor rub.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it would have been much more funny to watch him try to convince a stranger to rub Vapo-Rub on his chest. I also agree that it was probably easier to convince Penny to do these requests because she's more caring than his other friends. It would have been interesting to see if he asked one of his other friends, such as Leonard, if they would comply.
DeleteOut of all the episodes of The Big Bang Theory, this scene has always been my favorite! I love how when thinking of the social influence topic of the foot-in-the-door technique that this was the example you chose to use. The mix of a comedic entertainment with a solid social psychology principle was a very effective way to get your point across!
ReplyDeleteI knew that some of my audience wouldn't be familiar with The Big Bang Theory, so I wanted to go with a scene that was more popular. I saw this scene before I even started watching the show and I still found it funny. It relates well with the topic too, so I thought it was a great example. Thanks for reading!
DeleteI have always enjoyed The Big Bang Theory ,and even though i have seen this scene dozens of times, I have never realized Sheldon was using the foot-in-the-door technique. You picked a perfect scene to show how this technique can be successful.
ReplyDeleteI love "soft kitty". We have a family friend that when she video chats her niece and nephew in Florida, they will sing "Soft Kitty" together. Sheldon & Penny are my favorite characters. I agree with Connor and say I never realized it was the foot-in-the door technique before.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I hadn't thought about Sheldon using the foot in the door method before but even in the recent episodes you see him doing :) Do you think the other members of his group are re-enforcing him to act better, take advantage of, or worse toward his friends? Do you think the writers had this idea in their heads from the beginning of the show as they show Sheldon's character development through the series? I think they must have been thinking about conformity and how Sheldon can be the odd ball out and influence others to act out of their groups ordinary, because they are all a little quirky by themselves ;)
ReplyDelete