.. I know it's difficult to accept the decision, ... Introducing an alternative point of view However, I know you'll appreciate ... But the company ... On the other hand, if we consider ... ... but the evidence is there ... Postponing an answer Perhaps we could deal with that later. Could we leave that till later? I'll be dealing with that a little later on, so if you don't mind I'd rather answer that question then. I'll be coming to that, so if you don't mind I won't answer your question straightaway. But I won't forget. That is scheduled for discussion at the next meeting. I'm not sure this is the right place/time to discuss this particular question. Answering questions by admitting ignorance I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that one. Perhaps someone here can help us out? I'm sorry I don't know the answer to that, but what I will do is find out and send/give you an answer before the end of the week. Answering questions by saying you are not the right person to ask
If I want you to lend me $5, I can make the request seem smaller than it is by first asking you to lend me $10. One of the beauties of this tactic is that, by first requesting $10 and then retreating to $5, I will have si- multaneously engaged the force of both the reciprocity rule and the contrast prin- ciple. Not only will my $5 request be viewed as a concession to be reciprocated, it will also look like a smaller request than if I had just asked for $5 straightaway. REJECTION-THEN-RETREAT In combination, the influences of reciprocity and perceptual contrast can pre- sent a fearsomely powerful force. Embodied in the rejection-then-retreat sequence, they are jointly capable of genuinely astonishing effects. It is my feeling that they provide the only really plausible explanation of one of the most baffling political actions of our time: the decision to break into the Watergate offices of the Demo-
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