Behavioral effects of interpersonal attraction: Compliance with requests from liked and disliked others

Behavioral effects of interpersonal attraction: Compliance with requests from liked and disliked 0 thers * ROBERT A. BARON Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind. 47907 Sixty undergraduate females participated in an experiment designed to investigate the hypothesis that Ss would be more willing to comply with various requests from liked than from disliked others. Attraction was manipulated by varying both the apparent degree of attitude similarity between Ss and the requester and the favorability of ratings about the Ss ostensibly made by this individual. Results indicated that significantly more Ss complied with the requests of a liked than with those of a disliked other, but only under conditions where the magnitude of these appeals was relatively great. These findings were discussed in terms of their implications for the generalizability of the results of laboratory research on attraction to behavior in naturalistic social situations. The topic of interpersonal attraction has long been one of major interest to social psychologists. Thus, a large number of experiments have been performed to investigate possible determinants of the degree of liking between human beings (see, e.g., Berscheid & Walster, 1969; Byrne, 1969). In contrast, however, relatively little attention has been directed to the in fluence of in terpersonal attraction on various forms of social behavior. In view of the common observation that our relations with others are often strongly affected by our degree of liking or disliking for them, the current lack of interest in this topic is somewhat surprising. Moreover, the findings of several recent experiments suggest that a ttraction may often influence subsequent behavior in a complex and unexpected manner. To take only two examples, it has recently been reported that a high level of attraction toward a social model may sometimes tend to inhibit Os' imitation of his actions (Baron, 1970) and that a high degree of attraction toward a potential victim of aggression may totally {ail to reduce the subsequent level of violence directed against hirn (Hendrick & Taylor, 1971 ). Considered together, these and other related findings suggest the need for further research designed to examine the effects of interpersonal attraction on subsequent social behavior. The present experiment was addressed directly to this topic. More *This experiment was eondueted while the au th or was affiliated with the Department of Psyehology, University of South Carolina. Sineere appreciation is expressed to Sandra Lawton and Judi Rowntree for their able assistanee in the eolleetion of the data. Requests for reprints should be sent to the author, Department of Psyehology. Purdue University. Lafayette. Ind.47907. Psychon. Sci., 1971, Vol. 25 (5) specifically, it sought to examine the in fl u e nce of attraction on one particular form of social behavior, that of compliance with the requests of others. In order to investigate this relationship, Ss in two groups were first induced by means of standard laboratory techniques (e.g., Byrne & Nelson, 1965; Byrne & Rhamey, 1965) to either like or disIike a stranger and then exposed to arequest from this individual. On the basis of previous research wh ich has reported a positive relationship between attraction and the acceptance of social influence (e.g., Sampson & Insko, 1964), it was predicted that greater compliance would be obtained with the requests of a liked other than with those of a disliked other. SUBJECTS AND DESIGN Sixty undergraduate females enrolled in sections of introductory psychology at the University of South Carolina participated in the experiment. Students took part in the study in order to satisfy a course requirement. A 3 by 2 factorial design based upon two levels of attraction toward the req uester (low, high) and three levels of magnitude of this individual's request (smalI, moderate, large) was employed. Ten S8 were assigned randomly to each cell of this design. PROCEDURE Manipulation of Attraction Toward the Reque8ter The procedures employed to manipulate Ss' degrees of attraction toward the requester (a female confederate of the E) were based directly on those employed in previous research (e.g., Byrne & Nelson, 1965; Byrne & Rhamey, 1965). Thus, they will not be described in detail here. Briefly, attraction was manipulated by varying both the apparent degree of attitude similarity between Ss and the requester and the favorability of the ratings of the S ostensibly made by this individual. Hence, in the high-attraction condition, the confederate appeared to agree with the S on all 12 items of a brief attitude questionnaire and expressed a very favorable opinion of her on Byrne's Interpersonal Judgment Scale (IJS), while in the low-attraction condition, she appeared to disagree with the S on all 12 items and expressed a very unfavorable opinion of her on the IJS. Magnitude of Other's Request Following the completion of the procedures employed to manipulate Ss' liking for the requester, the E indicated that she would now sign the experiment cards of both individuals (Le., the confederate and real S) in order to insure that they received credit for participating in the study. The confederate then stated that she had forgotten her card, and the E left to get a new one for her from the psychology office. During her absence, the confederate, who was totally ignorant of the attraction condition to which the S had been assigned, made one of three different requests to this individual. In the small-request condition, she asked the Storeturn a notebook to a girl who lived in the same dormitory as herself (i.e., as the S). In the moderate-request condition, she asked the S to return several books to the library for her. Since this necessitated a trip of several blocks carrying the heavy books, the effort involved was considerably greater than that for the small request. Finally, in the large-request condition, the confederate asked the Storeturn the same books to the library, check them out in her own name, and hold them until she (i.e., the confederate) could pick them up in a few days. Thus, in this instance, she was asked to perform a substantial favor for a total stranger. If the S agreed to perform the favor asked of her by the confederate, she was given the notebook or books. However, at the end of the session, the confederate asked what time it was and, upon learning that the experiment had not required the full 30 min scheduled, retrieved these materials from the S, indicating that she would perform the relevant task herself. The Ethen distributed abrief postexperimental questionnaire designed to provide checks on the effectiveness of the experimental manipulations to both individuals. The completion of this questionnaire by the S then terminated the experimental hour. RESULTS Manipulation of Interpersonal Attraction The Ss' levels of attraction toward the requester was assessed twice during 325 Table 1 Number of (...truncated)