Social psychologists have noted that compliance strategies based on the social norm of reciprocity can be an effective tool for changing behavior (e.g., Cialdini, 2001). In contrast to expectancy-based behavior-change strategies, which offer a reward after a behavior is completed (post-behavior reward); reciprocity-based strategies present the reward first in the form of a gift (pre-behavior reward). Although there are no explicit contingencies attached to the gift, a sense of obligation to reciprocate may be a powerful motivator to comply with the request. It was hypothesized that pre-behavior rewards would be more effective than post-behavior rewards at low magnitudes of reward, and that both strategies would be effective at higher levels. This study examined effects of the timing and magnitude ($1 vs. $10) of a cash reward on compliance with a request to use a specially designed thank-you card recognizing prosocial and proenvironmental behavior. The hypotheses were not supported. The highest rate of compliance occurred in the post-behavior $10 condition, where 35.5% of participants complied, followed by post-behavior $1 (18.8%), pre-behavior $1 (12.9%) and pre-behavior $10 (8.8%). Pairwise comparisons revealed compliance in the $10 post-behavior condition was significantly higher than the rate of compliance in the $1 and $10 pre-behavior conditions, Chi-Square (1, n = 62) = 4.31, p < .05 and Chi-Square (1, n = 65) = 6.82, p < .01 respectively. The lack of evidence for the effectiveness of pre-behavior reward strategy is discussed and contrasted with previous findings. / Master of Science
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/9846 |
| Date | 18 November 2003 |
| Creators | Lehman, Philip Kent |
| Contributors | Psychology, Geller, E. Scott, Winett, Richard A., Axsom, Danny K. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | lehmanthesis.pdf |
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