The book's author is Robert B. Cialdini, Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University.
These generalizations develop because they allow people to usually act in a correct manner with a limited amount of thought and time.
[3][4][5] The findings in the book are backed up by empirical studies conducted in the fields of psychology, marketing, economics, anthropology and social science.
Compliance professionals often play on this trait by offering a small gift to potential customers.
Compliance professionals can exploit the desire to be consistent by having someone make an initial, often small, commitment, known as the "foot-in-the-door technique".
People also have a strong desire to stand by commitments made by providing further justification and reasons for supporting them.
Compliance professionals exploit this with the so-called "low-ball" technique, where buyers agree to an attractive offer before it is altered to be less favorable to them and more profitable to the seller.
This pattern of behavior toward or resulting in a negative outcome is called escalation of commitment.