Would
You
Lie
for
Me?
is
the
title
of
the
op-ed
written
by Waterloo
Engineering
Professor
Vanessa
Bohns
that
ran
in
the
New
York
Times
Sunday
Review.
Bohns, third from left in the photo, says most of us assume that others would go along with such schemes only if, on some level, they felt comfortable doing so.
"Yet research suggests that saying “no” can be more difficult than we believe — and that we have more power over others’ decisions than we think," reports Bohns who joined Waterloo Engineering's management sciences department in 2011.
"Countless studies have subsequently shown that we find it similarly difficult to resist social pressure from peers, friends and colleagues," she says. "Our decisions regarding everything from whether to turn the lights off when we leave a room to whether to call in sick to take a day off from work are affected by the actions and opinions of our neighbors and colleagues."
Bohns
and
her team of
graduate
students have
had research
participants
guess
how
many
times
strangers
will
turn
them
down
if
they
ask
to
use
their
cell
phone
or
write
in
a
(pretend)
library
book.
Results
have
shown
that
people comply
with
requests
twice
as
often
as
participants
expect.
In
other
words,
we
have
twice
as
much
ability
to
influence
as
we
think
we
do.
This
knowledge
could
be
useful
on
the
job
and elsewhere.
“We often don’t want to bother people at work,” said Bohns in a 2013 interview. “But, in fact, people are much more willing to help than we realize.”