The effects of self-perception and perceptual contrast upon compliance with socially undesirable requests

Abstract

The relative effects of self-perception and perceptual contrast upon rate of compliance with a counter-normative request were studied in a 5 by 2 by 2 design that combined five sizes of the initial request, two levels of authority, and sex. Increased compliance was obtained only when the initial requests were either moderately small or excessively large, but not when they were either very small or moderately large. © 1982, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.