Fallacies and Cognitive Biases: Ben Franklin Effect ~ by Ransom

 

This article is part of an ongoing series that began with Fallacies and Cognitive Biases.

The above picture is a detail from "50 Cognitive Biases to be aware of so you can be the very best version of you"

"We like doing favors; we are more likely to do another favor for someone if we've already done a favor for them than if we had received a favor from that person."

Now this is an interesting Cognitive Bias.

As described in the Infogalactic entry on this topic, Benjamin Franklin changed the perspective of a rival by asking him to loan him a book.  The act of loaning Ben the book improved the rival's attitude markedly and they went on to get along well.

What purpose does this serve?  All my answers are guesses but this one is even guessier.

In Groupthink and the Authority Effect we save mental energy by allowing others to do our research.  In the Ben Franklin Effect we allow our own past actions to serve as research.

"I did this for him and I'm no dummy, so he must be an okay guy."

Additionally, doing a favor for someone frames the giver as having higher status than the receiver.  This moves the relationship away from a rivalry frame where the participants are on equal and opposite footing.  The fact that Ben initiated this did lower his status in the existing frame but moved the relationship to a different frame that was more productive.