disrupt-then-reframe technique

a persuasion technique for enhancing compliance in which one uses an odd request to surprise or confuse another person before following up with a new framing of the same request. In the original investigations of this technique, sellers offered potential buyers a set of note cards for 300 pennies (the odd request) and then broke in on the buyers’ confusion about the price in pennies with a reframed pitch (“that’s $3. It’s a bargain”). The studies reported that nearly twice as many people bought the cards after experiencing the disrupt-and-reframe approach as did those who received only a standard pitch in which the cards were offered for $3. [introduced by U.S. psychologists Barbara Price Davis and Eric S. Knowles (1941– )]

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Psychology term of the day

January 31st 2025

protein metabolism

all the biochemical reactions involved in the manufacture and breakdown of proteins. The body makes a large variety of complex proteins from amino acids, including enzymes, antibodies, certain hormones (e.g., insulin), and structural proteins, such as keratin, collagen, and the actin and myosin molecules of muscle. Proteins are broken down into their constituent amino acids during the basic turnover of cell proteins as well as for the elimination of toxic peptides and abnormal proteins. In case of severe energy starvation, with depletion of the body’s fat reserves, protein can be broken down to provide carbon to make glucose, but this impairs normal body functions.