

'Excuse Me. May I Have Your Seat?' - byrneseyeview
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/14/nyregion/14subway.html?ex=1252987200&en=25839ffddba81f87&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&pagewanted=all

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Alex3917
This is a good article, but it fails to explain the general principle. This
is, if I remember correctly, that if it's harder to ask the question than it
is to say yes, people tend to say yes. And if asking the question is easier
than saying yes, people tend to say no. This has some cool implications for
dating. For example, if you ask out a girl she is more likely to say yes if
you do it in public, because the risk for the guy of being shot down in front
of all his friends makes asking the question more difficult than saying yes
for the girl.

I had actually read about this shortly before asking out my ex-gf, so I
actually asked her out by posting on her Facebook wall. I think the exact
message was "Hey, will you be my hot date to the farmer's market tomorrow???"
As dumb as that sounds, we ended up dating for almost a year. Proving once
again that the social sciences are more useful than most hackers give them
credit for.

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byrneseyeview
I just thought it was proof that Milgram was more sadistic than previously
thought.

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mrtron
A classic experiment. Another interesting study involved giving people random
and horrible excuses to cut into various lines. If you just asked to go ahead
of someone most people would say no, but if you provide any sort of excuse
people are quite willing.

I tried this a few times, and it works like a charm.

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te_platt
I think it is even more interesting from the point of view of the person
asking. It explains why most people are not that good at negotiating. It is
just hard to ask for what you want and yet remarkably effective.

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edu
What about asking somebody who is being impolite on the sub (playing loud
music, shouting or even smoking) to stop?

Sometimes I feel really annoyed by some behaviors and given that I'm a bit
introvert, polite and coward I find it's easier trying to tolerate it than
asking them to stop.

Do you have any experience?

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Alex3917
On the New York subways? That would probably get you stabbed.

