When saying yes leads to saying no: Preference for consistency and the reverse foot-in-the-door effect

A requester using the foot-in-the-door (FITD) tactic begins by gaining comp liance with a small request anti then advances to a related, larger request . Previous work has demonstrated that a strong preference for consistency a mong targets of the tactic can enhance the FITD effect. Other work has indi cated that an inadequate delay between the requests can produce resistance and can significantly reduce the effect. Study 1 found that high levels of preference for consistency (PFC) were sufficient to override this resistanc e, provided that participants' prior helpfulness in complying with the init ial request was made salient. Study 2 replicated this finding among high-PF C participants and showed that low-PFC participants demonstrated a reverse FITD effect when their prior helpfulness was made salient. The authors conc lude that high- and low-PFC individuals are likely to become more or less c onsistent with an action (respectively) when focused on the personal implic ations of that action.