Compliance as a Function of Elapsed Time Between First and Second Requests

A stringent test of the self-perception explanation of the foot-in-the-door (FITD) effect was made. Time varied from 1 to 21 days between the two requests, and some conditions included a reminder of previous helping opportunities to make one's self-percept salient. Male and female heads of households (N = 586) participated. No FITD effect was obtained, and overall support for the self-perception predictions was not found.