Personality moderators of the door-in-the-face compliance technique
Abstract
Recent research has explored the relationship between individual personality traits and the use of manipulation tactics in close relationships (Buss, 1992), but we still know relatively little about personality and susceptibility to compliance tactics. We hypothesized that Agreeableness, which is associated with concessions in social exchange situations (Barry & Friedman, 1998), and need for cognition, which is associated with motivation to seek out and process information about one's environment (Cacioppo et al., 1996), may affect susceptibility to compliance tactics. The current research examines Agreeableness and need for cognition as potential moderators of the door-in-the-face sequential request strategy (Cialdini et al., 1975). Participants (N = 226) completed personality measures and were then exposed to either a simple request or a sequence of one large and one small request. The door-in-the-face sequential request strategy elicited more compliance than the simple request. Need for cognition was associated with increased compliance in the door-in-the-face condition, suggesting that processing of social information may increase susceptibility to the tactic.
Degree
M.S.
Advisors
Graziano, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Social psychology|Personality psychology|Cognitive psychology
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