Alexandre Pascual

IMPROVING THE RESPONSE RATE TO A STREET SURVEY: AN EVALUATION OF THE "BUT YOU ARE FREE TO ACCEPT OR TO REFUSE" TECHNIQUE

The “but you are free to accept or to refuse” technique is a compliance procedure in which someone is approached with a request by simply telling him/her that he/she is free to accept or to refuse the request. This semantic evocation leads to increase compliance with the request. Furthermore, in most of the studies in which this technique was tested, subjects have been asked to give money to a confederate. A new evaluation of the effect of this technique was tested in an experiment in which subjects in the street have been approached to respond to a survey. The results show that, when the semantic evocation of freedom is included in the request, a higher compliance rate occurred. The commitment theory was used to explain such results.

Foot-in-the-Door Technique Using a Courtship Request: A Field Experiment

“Foot-in-the-door” is a well-known compliance technique which increases compliance to a request. Many investigations with this paradigm have generally used prosocial requests to test its effect. Evaluation of the effect of foot-in-the-door was carried out with a courtship request. 560 young women were solicited in the street to accept having a drink with a young male confederate. In the foot-in-the-door condition, before being solicited to have a drink, the young woman was asked to give directions to the confederate or to give him a light for his cigarette. Analysis showed foot-in-the-door was associated with greater compliance to the second request. The theoretical implication of such results with this nonprosocial request are discussed.

When drivers see red: car color frustrators and drivers' aggressiveness.

Research has found that exposition to red is associated with physiological activation and fighting spirit. A field experiment was conducted to explore whether the color of cars is related to an aggressive response. Drivers waiting at a traffic light were blocked by an experimental car. The color of the car varied (blue, red, green, black, and white). The amount of time that elapsed until the drivers responded by honking their horns or beaming their headlights was the dependent variable. It was found that the red car elicited early aggressive response.

LOW-BALL AND COMPLIANCE TO A REQUEST: AN APPLICATION IN A FIELD SETTING

The low-ball refers to a compliance technique in which a demand of someone to agree to a request is followed by telling the person the real cost of the request. The number of people who maintain their first decision is larger than the number in the condition in which the real cost of the request is stated prior to the initial compliance. Researches in this paradigm traditionally included a request addressed by a professor to students but was never tested between strangers. So, an experiment was carried out in which people were solicited to keep a dog (8 kg) on a lead until a male confederate returned from a visit to someone in a hospital. In low-ball condition, the confederate told the subject who agreed to the request that it would take 30 min., whereas in the control condition the confederate gave this information when stating his request. Analysis showed that low-ball technique leads people to maintain their first decision.

Cross-Cultural Investigation of Compliance Without Pressure The “You Are Free to. . .” Technique in France, Ivory Coast, Romania, Russia, and China

Compliance-without-pressure techniques have been widely studied in North America and West Europe. Among these techniques, the “but you are free” (BYAF) is a verbal compliance procedure that solicits someone to comply with a request by simply telling a person that he or she is free to accept or refuse the request. This technique is interpreted with the commitment theory and the psychological reactance theory which are more relevant in individualistic cultures than in collectivist cultures. So, four studies compared the efficiency of the BYAF technique in collectivist cultures (Ivory Coast, Russia, and China) and in individualist cultures (France and Romania). As suggested in the hypothesis, our analysis indicated that the BYAF technique will be much less successful in more collectivist cultures. Such results underline the importance of considering specific cultural contexts in social influence studies.

Words as environmental cues: the effect of the word "loving" on compliance to a blood donation request.

ABSTRACT In a field setting, students (N = 3600) on different campus locations were solicited to give blood during a special one-day drive. Solicitations were made through face-to-face interactions. The solicitors wore a white T-shirt with different inscriptions: no inscription, Loving = Helping, Donating = Helping. Results showed that, when compared to the no inscription condition, the number of donors increased when the solicitor-confederates wore the T-shirt Loving = Helping whereas no effect was found when the confederates wore the T-shirt Donating = Helping. The activation spreading theory is used to explain these results. The practical application of these results for blood donation drives and other health-related fundraising events is explored.

The Effect of the Foot-in-the-Door Technique on Sales in a Computer-Mediated Field Setting

The “foot-in-the-door” (FITD) is a well-known compliance technique that increases compliance with a request. Many investigations on this procedure have generally used prosocial requests to test the effect of the technique. A new evaluation of the effect of the foot-in-the-door technique was carried out with a selling request. Previous customers (n = 900) of an extreme sports store were solicited by e-mail to participate in a campaign where they were offered the opportunity to win a gift voucher if they persuaded someone else to become a new customer of the store. The customers received e-mail messages in one of the following formats: a registration request to a newsletter (single FITD condition), a registration request to a newsletter and a request to fill out a survey (two FITD condition), or no request (control condition). The two FITD condition was found to be associated with a higher number of new customers than the control condition.

Low-ball and compliance: Commitment even if the request is a deviant one

Low-balling is a technique designed to gain compliance by making a very attractive initial offer to induce a person to accept the offer and then making the terms less favorable. Studies have shown that this approach is more successful than when the less favorable request is made directly. However, the effect of this technique on more problematic and costly requests remained in question. In two experimental field studies, a request was made to participants and, after agreeing, they were informed that the request referred to deviant behaviors. Results showed that the low-ball technique remained effective with both men and women. The theoretical power of commitment is discussed to explain these results.

Foot-in-the-door and problematic requests: A field experiment

The “Foot-in-the-door” (FITD) is a compliance technique that consists of making a small initial request to a participant, then making a second, more onerous request. In this way greater compliance with the second request is obtained than under a control condition where the focal request is not preceded by the initial request. Most of the studies using this paradigm have tested prosocial requests. So the generalization of this compliance technique to other types of requests remains an open question. The authors carried out two experiments in which the FITD effect on deviant behaviors was tested. Results showed that the FITD technique increased compliance with the focal request, but only among male participants.

Raising Students Awareness to Climate Change: An Illustration With Binding Communication

Much energy and money is dedicated to increasing climate change awareness and pro-environmental behaviors. Mere communication campaigns, which are often alarmist, are widely used despite their uncertain effectiveness. We suggest that using binding communication strategies would prove more adequate. Binding communication consists in combining a persuasive message and a preparatory act linked to the persuasive message. This procedure is generally reported to be more efficient than a single persuasive message at influencing attitudes and behavior. This hypothesis was tested in a study in which students were presented with a classic climate change communication with/without a preparatory act (participant-proposed solutions). Results showed that although knowledge about climate change increased in both conditions, attitudes and behavior follow-through were positively affected only in the binding communication condition. Therefore, in addressing climate change and global warming behaviors, pairing a persuasive message with personal solution generation is a potentially valid and useful technique.