This technique is also known as the 'rejection-then-retreat' technique and it was discovered by Robert Cialdini and others in 1975.

The door-in-the-face technique (henceforth referred to as DITF) is a technique that involves a set pattern―first you get a no and then you get a yes. This is how it works: The persuader first makes a rather excessive and extravagant request to the subject (which is most likely to be turned down) and after he is turned down, he immediately follows it up with a more reasonable request, one that is more likely to be accepted. But why does the door-in-the-face technique work and why does the subject so readily agree to the second request? This is where the basic human need of pleasing people, being liked by everyone, and not being socially rejected kicks in―the subject feels guilty for having denied the first request and causing disappointment to the persuader, so when he is given a second choice (or a second chance), and a much more reasonable one at that, he finds it easier to accept it and redeem himself of his negative feelings, if you may. For example, say Rose wants to go for a film in the eve and she'll be home by 9 pm. She knows that her parents won't like her staying out so late. So she asks her parents whether she can be home by 12 am and is immediately refused. She then follows that up by requesting for a 9 pm slot and is granted permission. The genius of this phenomenon is seen in the fact that the persuader's intention is to get the second request fulfilled all along, but because the subject will refuse it on the spot if presented as is, he/she adds a ridiculously improbable request. As anticipated, the request is refused and when the second request is made, it is granted much more easily, thus the persuader gets what he/she had wanted all along. The technique is referred to as DITF because it actually does involve a proverbial slamming of the door on someone's face (request). This technique is used very commonly, not only by salesmen and marketing professionals, but examples are rife of such instances being used in everyday life as well (like the example provided above).

In 1975, an experiment was conducted by Cialdini and his colleagues to study this phenomenon. People were divided into 3 groups. The first group was asked to volunteer as counselors for a group of juvenile delinquents for 2 hours per week, for a period of 2 years. After they refused, a second request was made and they were asked to take them to the zoo for one day. The second group was asked only to take them to the zoo. The third group was told about the 2 year counseling plan but was only asked to take them to the zoo. It was found that 50% people from the 1st group agreed to the second request that was made (taking them to the zoo) as opposed to the 17% and 25% in the second and third group respectively. This went on to show that the DITF technique was successful and brought about better results than a request made in isolation (like for the second group). So also, it was only successful if the first (unreasonable) request was followed by the second (reasonable) request (as the results of the 3rd group in comparison to the 1st group showed).

This phenomenon works best in social settings―if it has something to do with helping people or learn something. The success of this method is also determined by two other factors―one, the second request has to be made by the same person, and two, the second request should be made immediately after the first, so that the feelings of guilt and other moderations in the mind are not lost.

The following are some examples of the door-in-the-face phenomenon that are given in the form of dialogs for you to better understand this theory.