FEAR-THEN-RELIEF PROCEDURE FOR PRODUCING COMPLIANCE - BEWARE WHEN THEDANGER IS OVER

This article presents the procedure and results of five experiments (f our field studies and one laboratory experiment) designed to test the effectiveness of a new technique (''fear-then-relief'') for producing compliance. It has been shown that people who experience anxiety whose source is later abruptly eliminated usually respond positively to var ious requests addressed to them. The fear-then-relief phenomenon was f ound to be reliable and strong in both field studies and the laborator y experiment. A model based on the concept of limited capacity of cogn itive resource, fear dynamic, and direction of attention `concentratio n is offered as an explanation of the results obtained. (C) 1998 Acade mic Press.