How to Get Your Way

You want to use the photocopier but there is a queue.

It has been found that people are much
more willing to yield to a request when the requester provides
a reason for doing so. 

So if you give a reason for jumping the queue, 

"let me go first" does not work

but give a reason

legitimate
(“because I’m in a rush”) 

or nonsensical (“because I have to
make some copies”). 

People are much more willing to comply with your request.

What this underscores is the mindlessness
of the compliance behavior of you and me.

We have been duped by the because heuristic (we employ a rule of thumb cognitively) ie 'this request seems alright.'

We run a rule of thumb over out options and then anchor our decision.