Fear-then-relief procedure for producing compliance: Beware when the danger is over

This article presents the procedure and results of five experiments (four field studies and one laboratory experiment) designed to test the effectiveness of a new technique ("fear-then-relief") for producing compliance. It has been shown that people who experience anxiety whose source is later abruptly eliminated usually respond positively to various requests addressed to them. The fear-then-relief phenomenon was found to be reliable and strong in both field studies and the laboratory experiment. A model based on the concept of limited capacity of cognitive resource, fear dynamic, and direction of attention `concentration is offered as an explanation of the results obtained. (C) 1998 Academic Press.