Influence of Gaze on Compliance with Demanding and Conciliatory Requests in a Field Setting

Leaflets were offered to 600 male and 600 female pedestrians by gazing and non-gazing male and female experimenters with a conciliatory tone ("Excuse me. Would you like one?"), a demanding tone ("Take one!"), or with no verbalization. Significant main effects showed that subjects took more leaflets when the experimenter gazed and when the experimenter was female. There were no main effects for subject sex and tone of request. Significant interactions resulted in the following conclusions: (a) female subjects complied significantly more with a demanding request than male subjects; (b) experimenter gaze had greater influence on compliance to male experimenters than on compliance to female experimenters; (c) the influence of gaze on compliance was greater when experimenters were silent or conciliatory then when they were demanding.

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