[franga2000]

> Maybe once you've made a small committment it's easier to make a bigger committment.

It's definitely not the whole story, but this is a pretty well-studied thing in psychology. A similar trick in social engineering is to ask your mark for a small favor, which will make them more likely to do you a bigger favor later. I've read about it many times, but can't for the life of me remember what it was called...

[amatecha]

You're just trying to get someone to do you a favor by looking up what that phenomenon is called! We're onto you! heheh ;)

[electricviolet]

I've heard it called the foot-in-the-door phenomenon.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/compliance.html

[Beldin]

Perhaps one of the 6 principles of persuasion?

From a google search:

Theses 6 principles are reciprocity, consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity.

[rygine]

perhaps this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Franklin_effect#:~:text=Th....