Ben Franklin Effect
Ben Franklin Effect
The observation that a person who does you a favor becomes more inclined to like you and do you another — counterintuitively, asking for a kindness can win someone over faster than granting one. Named for Benjamin Franklin, who recorded the origin in his Autobiography.
Facing a political rival who disliked him, Franklin did not court him with “servile respect.” Instead he asked to borrow a “very scarce and curious book” from the man’s library. The rival lent it; Franklin returned it warmly; the man “ever after manifested a readiness to serve me on all occasion,” and the two became lasting friends. Franklin’s gloss: “He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.”
The mechanism is a form of self-justification — having helped you, the other person reconciles the act with their feelings by deciding they must like you (Motivated Reasoning turned to your advantage).
Related concepts
- Benjamin Franklin — the effect is named for him and traces to the favor he asked of a political rival.
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin — the source where Franklin records the borrowed-book episode and his gloss on it.
- Motivated Reasoning — the underlying self-justification mechanism the helper uses to reconcile the favor with their feelings.