Message factors (3 of 3)

7. (a) What is a prompt? Give examples. (b) Identify two necessary conditions for prompts to be effective in influencing behavior. Why is an existing positive attitude such a condition? Why is sufficiently high perceived behavioral control (PBC, self-efficacy) such a condition? (c) Can prompts be cost-effective? Explain.

8. (a) Describe the foot-in-the-door (FITD) strategy. Identify three factors that influence the success of the FITD strategy (three moderating factors). (b) How does the presence of an obvious external justification (for initial-request compliance) influence the effectiveness of the strategy? How does the size of the initial request influence the effectiveness of the strategy? How is the strategy’s effectiveness influenced by whether the requests come from prosocial or non-prosocial organizations? (c) Is the strategy’s success influenced by whether the two requests come from the same person? Is it influenced by whether the two requests concern the same subject (the same topic)? Is it influenced by the time interval between the two requests? (d) Describe the self-attribution explanation of FITD effects. Describe how that explanation accounts for the observed moderating factors.

9. (a) Describe the door-in-the-face (DITF) strategy. Identify four factors that influence the success of the DITF strategy (four moderating factors). (b) How is the success of the strategy affected by the presence of a delay between the requests? How is the success of the strategy affected by whether the same person makes the two requests? How is the success of the strategy affected by whether the two requests have the same beneficiary? How is the strategy’s effectiveness influenced by whether the requests come from prosocial or non-prosocial organizations? (c) Describe the reciprocal-concessions explanation of DITF effects. Describe how that explanation accounts for some of the observed moderating factors; describe how that explanation has a difficult time accounting for other moderating factors. Does the size of the concession (the reduction in request size from the first to the second request) influence the success of the strategy? Is that result consistent or inconsistent with the reciprocal-concessions explanation? (d) Describe the guilt-based explanation of DITF effects. Describe how that explanation tries to account for the observed moderating factors. (e) What is a “transgression-compliance effect”? Do transgression-compliance effects vary depending on whether the requester is the victim of the transgression (as opposed to being someone else)? Explain the implication of this finding for the guilt-based explanation of DITF effects. Which moderating factor does the guilt-based explanation appear to have difficulty accommodating?