How does it work? It is a fundamental tenet of human psychology that people hate to contradict themselves. So if you give people a choice between being consistent with their standards—with what they have said and promised previously—and contradicting their standards, people will usually strive to be consistent with their standards. Of course, no tool works all the time. But you will get much more from using these tools. People will violate their own standards less often, and you will get what you want more often.
