Reciprocal concessions procedure for inducing compliance: The door-in-the-face technique.

Abstract

Conducted 3 experiments to test the effectiveness of a rejection-then-moderation procedure for inducing compliance with a request for a favor. Ss were a total of 202 passersby on a university campus. All 3 experiments included a condition in which a requester first asked for an extreme favor (which was refused to him) and then for a smaller favor. In each instance, this procedure produced more compliance with the smaller favor than a procedure in which the requester asked solely for the smaller favor. Additional control conditions in each experiment support the hypothesis that the effect is mediated by a rule for reciprocation of concessions. Several advantages to the use of the rejection-then-moderation procedure for producing compliance are discussed. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)