Concession

Within the Social Engineering context, concessions play on the reciprocation instinct of humans. Indeed, a social engineer can use the “something for something” idea or the “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” principle.

Definition

Concessions, or “the act of conceding” is defined as:

  1. The act or an instance of conceding (as by granting something as a right, accepting something as true, or acknowledging defeat)
  2. The admitting of a point claimed in argument

Four Steps

The basics of concessions and reciprocity can be broken down into four steps:

  1. Label your concessions:
    Make it known when and what you are conceding, this will make it difficult for your mark to ignore the urge to reciprocate.
  2. Demand and define reciprocity:
    Step 1 plants the seeds of reciprocation and Step 2 will increase our chances of getting something in return.
  3. Make contingent concessions:
    These are “risk-free” concessions. Use these when trust is low or when you need to signal that you are ready to make other concessions.
  4. Make concessions in installments:
    The idea of reciprocity is deeply ingrained in our minds. Most people feel that if someone does them a favor then they should return that favor. Similarly, if someone is to make a concession, say in a negotiation or bargaining agreement, then we will instinctively feel obligated to “budge” a little bit too.

Use and Abuse

A successful social engineer can (ab)use this instinctual tendency to not only resist the manipulations, but also to try to take over the situation completely.[3] The skill of concessions and reciprocation play well with many of the other social engineering techniques discussed with the Framework. (see Psychological Principles)

Telemarketers

Concessions is seen in telemarketers who call for donations. First, the telemarketer asks for a large donation. However, this is a strategy for gaining concessions. After the large donation request is turned down, then another request is made in a smaller amount.

Large request: “Can you donate $200 to our charity?”

Response: “No, I can not.”

Smaller request: “Oh I’m sorry (Sir/Mam), how about $20?”

Indeed, most people are not aware of this concession tactic. Instead, they feel happy now to part with the $20.

Car Salesmen

Concession

Another great example was found in this article, How To Negotiate The Salary Using The Power of The Norm Of Reciprocity where it stated:

“The power of this norm can be felt in most bargaining situations. Assume a buyer and a seller are haggling over the price of a car. The seller starts out with a bid at $24,000. The buyer finds this offer unacceptable and makes a counter bid at $15,000. Now, the seller lowers his bid to $20,000, i.e. he makes a concession. In this case, the buyer will most often feel inclined to increase his bid, maybe to $17,000. The reason why the buyer will feel this inclination is because of the presence of the norm of reciprocity. This norm now demands that the buyer responds to the seller’s concession with another concession.”

Further Reading

Image:
https://www.autosuccessonline.com/how-to-become-a-great-car-salesperson-without-being-pushy/