Compliance as a Function of Prior Compliance, Familiarization, Effort and Benefits: The Foot-in-the-Door Technique Extended

Abstract

The current study examined: (a) “whether the foot-in-the-door technique would be effective under two levels (medium and high) of two variables (effort and benefit) associated with the second request; and (b) the role of familiarization as a mediator of the foot-in-the-door technique. The subjects, 180 persons selected from the telephone directory, were initially called by an experimenter who introduced himself as a member of a citizen's traffic organization. The subjects were either asked to answer a few short questions or were simply made familiar with the organization. Control subjects were not initially called. The experimenter called the subjects a second time two days later and asked them to comply either with a medium or large request. Half of the subjects received an argument depicting the high benefits that would accrue should the subject comply and the other half received a less strong argument. The results showed that the foot-in-the-door technique was effective under varying conditions of the second request and that under conditions of medium benefit, familiarization facilitated compliance. Under conditions of high benefit, however, familiarization inhibited compliance. The results were discussed in terms of reactance theory.