EFFECTS OF INTEREST AROUSAL ON COMPLIANCE WITH A REQUEST FOR HELP

Isen (1984) and Berkowitz (1987) noted the strong link between positiv e moods and positive thinking. Isen proposed that the well-established relation between positive moods and increased helping or compliance i s attributable to the mediating effects of positive thinking. In the c urrent study, the effect of interest-a type of positive thinking-on co mpliance was examined. Because of the strong link between positive moo ds and positive thinking, it was expected that inducing interest would increase compliance. College students sitting alone in a university l ibrary were approached and asked to complete an interesting task, an u ninteresting task, or were not asked to do an initial task. All studen ts were then asked to answer questions from a sociology survey. Studen ts in the interesting task condition were willing to answer more quest ions than students in the other two conditions, in which compliance ra tes were equal. A second experiment was conducted to determine whether the task used in Experiment 1 increased compliance because it increas ed interest or because it induced guilt or lowered self-esteem (the ta sk was a perceptual trick that most students got wrong even though it appeared very easy). Results showed that the interesting task created not only more interest, but also more guilt than the uninteresting tas k. Both interest and guilt contributed independently to compliance. To gether, the two experiments showed that interest, like positive affect , can increase compliance.