Effects of Compliance Techniques on Spontaneous and Asked-For Helping

Abstract

American college students (N = 90) were exposed to either a foot-in-the-door (small request followed by large request) or door-in-the-face (large request followed by small request) compliance manipulation, or to a control situation, prior to an opportunity to provide either spontaneous help or asked-for help. Results showed faster helping in the asked-for condition relative to the spontaneous condition. Moreover, in the spontaneous condition, the door-in-the-face technique produced faster helping than the foot-in-the-door or control manipulations. The findings support prior contentions of distinctions between the two types of helping and imply that they operate under different mechanisms.