The Likeability Paradox — Why Asking for Favors Makes People Like You More

Everything you've been taught about making a good impression says: be helpful, be giving, be the person people can count on. Ask for nothing. Demonstrate your value through service. And while genuine helpfulness is certainly a virtue, this model of social investment contains a significant blind spot — one that Benjamin Franklin noticed nearly three centuries ago and that modern psychology has since verified with considerable precision.