Foot in the door and frog in the pot

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A VIDEO is circulating around the Net, showing members from the Hong Kong Social Experiment Team trying to invite people, who are relaxing in a green field, to stand inside a small rattan hoop.

During the initial phase, no one was willing to do this. So the team decided to change their plan. Participants would then not even have to stand inside the loop but just be as they were as the team drew a big circle around them.

After that, the team drew another smaller circle within the large circle. Finally, they tried again to invite the participants to stand inside the rattan hoop. This time around, those who initially declined the request, surprisingly agreed. Some even took selfies.

After the test, the participants were interviewed. They explained it was not awkward for them to stand inside the large circle, and also, when the circle became smaller, they did not “think anything wrong about it.”

They further explained since they had already tried it (standing inside the large circle), acceding to the next request (standing inside the rattan hoop) did not matter much. In the same video, the team explained the experiment successfully confirmed the psychological “foot-in-the-door” effect.

The technique involves getting a person to agree to a large request by first setting him or her up to agree to a more modest request. In the process, the subject will likely continue in “a desired direction of attitude” and in the end, may accept even the wildest requests.

During the second reading of the National Security Council (NSC) Bill, even though BN senators voiced out the need for improvements, the Bill was still approved by the Senate.

Of course, the real concern was how the tabling and approval of the Bill had neither created a firestorm nor attracted much attention from the people.

Apparently, there is a lack of concern or understanding of the Bill on the part of the general public. Maybe they are more concerned about their tight pockets due to the rising costs of living or maybe they have just lost hope in our system of parliamentary democracy.

Apart from the above two interpretations, we have, legislatively speaking, witnessed, over the years, how a frog is slowly bathed in warm water with the temperature eventually increased to boiling point and the frog getting cooked  if it is not smart enough to jump out of the pot before ending up as frog stew!

It is a deliberate attempt to gradually increase a negative stimulus that would otherwise be rejected if applied all at once.

Malaysians can also be said to have no high legislative awareness for paying only scant attention to the tabling and passing of the NSC Bill.

From the 2012 Peaceful Assembly Act to the 2015 Prevention of Terrorism Act, and now the 2015 National Security Council Act, this is seemingly all part of the “foot-in-the-door” effect which may elicit opposition from some quarters, but to the greater part of the public, it does not really matter since it does not affect them so long as they do not stir the pot – and, for that matter, are willing to stand inside the rattan loop!

In fact, whether it’s the Peaceful Assembly Act or the National Security Act, it does lend credence to the argument that human rights in the country are gradually being eroded. That said, if the Bersih Rally has been attracting huge crowds of people trying to safeguard their own interests, then there is certainly still much more room for improvement.

You and I are just like frogs still bathing comfortably in warm water and when we want to jump out of the pot as the water becomes too hot to bear, let us hope it will not be too late. (From Oriental Daily).