What a Mime Can Teach You About Psychology

The Colombian city streets of Bogota were buzzing.

Every few steps I took, there was something fighting for your attention.

Cars honking.

Babies crying.

Megaphones yelling at you to buy their stuff.

It was all in your face.

But as I walked down the open street, something stood out…

A man with his face painted, like a mime.

He approached my friend and I in a rather odd way.

He stood still in a semi-crouched position, waited for me, and put his hand out for a fist bump.

Now, I’m not one to turn down a good fist bump from a strange mime, so I obliged.

And that’s when it happened…

He whipped out a penny-sized smiley face sticker and placed it on my chest.

Immediately, I knew what he was doing.

So what happened next wasn’t surprising…

He put his hand out and asked for money.

But why am I telling you all this?

Well, there’s an important lesson here.

The Power of Persuasion

The whole interaction was a textbook use of reciprocity bias.

Reciprocity bias is when someone does you a favour and you feel compelled to give back.

Now, here’s the interesting part…

Even if it’s a small favour, if you’re on the receiving end, your brain has a hard time knowing how much to give back.

You just know you got something and you should return the favour.

Think of it like an on/off switch and you’re turned to “give” mode.

So, if the person giving you the initial favour asks for something of larger value in return (like money) you’ll often comply.

Why Do We Feel a Need to Reciprocate?

This is because bias of reciprocity is hard wired into our DNA.

To survive as a species, we often had to do favours for others.

1000s of years ago, if I had a bad hunt or harvest and had no food, another person in the tribe might give me some of theirs.

Then, if they ever lacked food and I had an excess, I’d return the favour.

The unspoken agreement was mutually beneficial.

Over thousands of years, the people following this practice survived during hard times.

The people who didn’t, may have gotten away with a few unreturned favours, but not for long.

Their reputation would get around and people would stop helping.

Eventually, leading to their death when times got hard.

How Our Psychology Is Used Against Us

Today, people have understood this bias and used it to their advantage.

It’s fewer life and death situations and more monetary ones.

• A car dealerships might offer you coffee or tea, then later ask for 10s of thousands of dollars

• A person selling hair products at the mall might offer you a free sample, then later try to sell you 100s of dollars of product

• A mime on the street might offer you a sticker worth less than a penny, then ask for a couple of dollars

In fact, Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, knew this bias was so powerful that he wouldn’t let his purchasing agents accept hot dogs from vendors.

The Takeaway

No matter how small, always be wary whenever someone offers you a “favour.”

This can be something as innocent as a pen, coffee, or sticker.

The moment you accept, your psychology plays against you.

Making you far more likely to comply with any request the person makes afterward.

If you want to learn more about persuasive psychological biases like this, I recommend the book, Influence by Robert Cialdini.

It’s one of my favourite books I’ve read and has saved me 10s of thousands of dollars since I read it 8 years ago.

And if you want a well-written article on reciprocity bias, Farnam Street wrote an amazing post that I’ll link here.

But with that being said, I hope y’all have an amazing Thursday.

Your Canadian friend,

Dakota “I Like to Fist BumpMimes" Robertson