Dear Ali,

By means of cognitive dissonance you  can find an idea:

Cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.

Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance focuses on how humans strive for internal consistency. When inconsistency (dissonance) is experienced, individuals tend to become psychologically uncomfortable and they are motivated to attempt to reduce this dissonance, as well as actively avoiding situations and information which are likely to increase it. You can look up Leon Festinger.

Thank you Béatrice for your answer.

I know of Festinger theory.

But the thing is that the best theory to explain the low-ball effect is the Kiesler commitment theory (Cialdini, 1978).

I don't see how dissonance theory can change the commitment to a person, without changing the commitment to the task.

"The low-ball is a persuasion and selling technique in which an item or service is offered at a lower price than is actually intended to be charged, after which the price is raised to increase profits.

An explanation for the effect is provided by cognitive dissonance theory. If a person is already enjoying the prospect of an excellent deal and the future benefits of the item or idea, then backing out would create cognitive dissonance, which is prevented by playing down the negative effect of the "extra" costs."

Actually these effects go together.

Yes and Cialdini confirms it in his research but concludes by saying a lot of techniques can explain a part of the effect, but none, except the commitment theory, explains them all.

"Although each of the possible explanations we have considered for the low-ball effect could account for aspects of the data of Experiment 3, the findings are wholly consistent only with the commitment interpretation. That is, only Kiesler's (1971) commitment formulation would have predicted entirely the obtained pattern of results that (a) the low-ball technique would produce greater final selection of the target activity than a control treatment, (b) the technique would be effective despite a lack of attitude-change effects associated with the initial decision, and (c) the technique would only be more effective than a control treatment when the initial decision was made with free choice." (Cialdini, 1978).

Do you have any idea how to change the commitment one feels for the person asking, without changing the commitment for the task asked? I don't see how without changing the person.

Check this link out:

John Meyer and Natalie Allen developed their Three Component Model of Commitment and published it in the 1991 "Human Resource Management Review." The model explains that commitment to an organization is a psychological state, and that it has three distinct components that affect how employees feel about the organization that they work for.

The three components are:

Affection for your job ("affective commitment"). = love

Fear of loss ("continuance commitment").= fear

Sense of obligation to stay ("normative commitment").= duty

You can use this model to increase commitment and engagement in your team, while also helping people to experience a greater feeling of well-being and job satisfaction.

You change e.g. fear of loss to non-fear?

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/three-component-model-commitment.htm

I agree with Beatrice that the Allen and Meyer model will be quite useful in the context you are working on. The three component model looks at social, personal and relational aspects of commitment and hence may become a useful tool for you.