Consensus Information and the Foot-in-the-Door-Effect

Abstract

The self-perception explanation of the foot-in-the-door effect suggests that subjects told they are unique in their compliance with an initial, small request will be more likely to comply with larger requests made of them later, while those told they are one of many who complied will not. In Experiment 1, shoppers were first asked to sign a petition; unexpectedly, subjects given consensus information about the compliance to that request were more likely to help a second experimenter than subjects in a no-initial-request control group. Compliance rates of those told they were unique (nonconsensus group) and those in the control group did not differ significantly. Subjects in Experiment 2 were asked to participate in a telephone survey; no differences were found in this study between the nonconsensus and consensus groups.