The door-in-the-face technique after eating: A field experiment on the self-regulatory function of affect as a resource

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to examine the effects of food and the "door-in-the-face technique" on compliance with a request that one participate in a psychological experiment. It was predicted that positive affect was induced in participants who did eat, while those who did not eat were deemed to have neutral affect. Participants then received a rejection-then- moderation procedure (i.e., the door-in-the-face technique) or not, in that half of the participants were induced to refuse a large initial request and then asked a small request, while the other half were asked only a small request. Participants who experienced either a positive event (eating) or a negative event (normative pressure for reciprocation of concession) were more likely to agree to participate in an experiment than did neutral affect controls, likely because of mood maintenance or mood repair. However, people who were subjected to both events helped no more than did controls. This latter result suggests that positive affect may function as a resource that provides a psychological buffer against negative affect. Participants who complied in the no-food/no-technique and food/technique conditions rationalized their own behavior (i.e., engaged in dissonance reduction). The theoretical implications of our findings are discussed, with respect to the manipulation and measurement of affect.