External Pressure to Comply

Abstract

Subjects were approached with a small, initial request made door-to-door by a female experimenter who appeared to be either nonhandicapped or disabled. Half of the subjects in each case were asked to answer questions for an organization called Friends of the Handicapped, while the others were told the experimenter represented Friends of the Environment. Two days later, subjects were called on the telephone by a second experimenter and asked to participate in a larger survey for a different organization. A foot-in-the-door effect was obtained for three of the four experimental conditions. Only for the handicapped experimenter/Friends of the Environment condition did the rate of compliance with the second request not differ from that of a no-initial-contact control group. These results are discussed in terms of the self-perception explanation of the foot-in-the-door effect.