Editing Automaticity (section)

==Use to influence==
{|class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-left: 1em;"
!rowspan="3" | Small<br />request
|Sound&nbsp;reason    || {{bartable|94|% (15 out of 16)}}
|-
|No&nbsp;reason       || {{bartable|60|%  (9 out of 15)}}
|-
|Placebic&nbsp;reason || {{bartable|93|% (14 out of 15)}}
|-
|colspan="4" |
|-
!rowspan="3" | Large<br />request
|Sound&nbsp;reason    || {{bartable|42|% (10 out of 24)}}
|-
|No&nbsp;reason       || {{bartable|24|%  (6 out of 25)}}
|-
|Placebic&nbsp;reason || {{bartable|24|%  (6 out of 25)}}
|}
In ''Influence'', [[Robert Cialdini]]'s book about [[social psychology]] and influence tactics, Cialdini explains how common automatic response patterns are in [[human behavior]], and how easily they can be triggered, even with erroneous cues.<ref>Cialdini, R.B. (2001). ''Influence: Science and practice'' (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Chapter 1.</ref> He describes an experiment conducted by social psychologists [[Ellen Langer|Langer]], Chanowitz, and Blank  which illustrates how compliant people will be with a request if they hear words that sound like they are being given a reason, even if no actual reason is provided. The experimenters approached people standing in line to use a photocopier with one of three requests:

* "Excuse me. I have 5 pages. May I use the [[Xerox]] machine because I'm in a rush?"
* "Excuse me. I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine?"
* "Excuse me. I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?"

When given the request plus a reason, 94% of people asked complied with the request. When given the request without a reason, only 60% complied. But when given the request with what sounds like a reason but isn't, compliance jumped back to 93%. Langer, Chanowitz, and Blank are convinced that most human behavior falls into automatic response patterns.<ref>Cialdini, R.B. (2001). Influence: Science and practice (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. p. 4</ref><ref>Langer, E.J., (1989). Minding matters. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), ''Advances in experimental social psychology'' (Vol. 22). New York, Academic Press.</ref>

However, when the request was made larger (20 pages instead of 5), subjects expected a sound reason before complying, as illustrated in the table.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mbialek.cba.pl/pliki/langer.pdf |title=Langer, Blank and Chanowitz, ''The Mindlessness of Ostensibly Thoughtful Action: The Role of "Placebic" Information in Interpersonal Interaction'' |access-date=2012-02-08 |archive-date=2016-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421163313/http://mbialek.cba.pl/pliki/langer.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>