Abstract
According to the fear-then-relief technique of social influence, people who experience anxiety whose source is abruptly withdrawn usually respond positively to various requests and commands addressed to them. This effect is usually explained by the fact that fear invokes a specific program of action, and that when the source of this emotion is suddenly and unexpectedly removed, the program is no longer operative, but the person has not yet invoked a new program. This specific state of disorientation makes compliance more likely. In this paper, an alternative explanation of the fear-then-relief effect is offered. It is assumed that the rapid change of emotions is associated with feelings of uncertainty and confusion. The positive response to the request is a form of coping with uncertainty. In line with this reasoning, while individuals with a high need for closure (NFC) should comply with a request after a fear-then-relief situation, low NFC individuals who are less threatened by uncertainty should not. This assumption was confirmed in the experiment.
Highlights
The literature on persuasion and compliance provides descriptions of various procedures increasing the likelihood of compliance
It turned out that under fear--relief condition, participants approached with unusual messages hardly ever asked any questions about the aim of the action or campaign and the organizer of it
When applying the explanation of need for closure (NFC) to the fear-thenrelief phenomenon, it can be suggested that compliance with the request frees individuals from the need to validate how they want to respond to the request
Summary
The literature on persuasion and compliance provides descriptions of various procedures increasing the likelihood of compliance (see: Cialdini, 2001; Pratkanis, 2007; Dolinski, 2016; O’Keefe, 2016 for review). It turned out that under fear--relief condition, participants approached with unusual messages (e.g., request with placebic justification or without any justification) hardly ever asked any questions about the aim of the action or campaign and the organizer of it This pattern of results is quite congruent with the assumption that in a situation involving a sudden withdrawal of the sources of an emotion, mindlessness is caused by temporary deficits of cognitive resources. When applying the explanation of NFC to the fear-thenrelief phenomenon, it can be suggested that compliance with the request frees individuals from the need to validate how they want to respond to the request This in turn extends the uncertainty experienced in the situation. While individuals with high NFC will comply with a request after a fear--relief situation, low-NFC individuals who are less threatened by uncertainty will not
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