The effects of autonomous versus controlling motives on compliance with external requests

Compliance literature postulates that when people perform an externally imposed request by free choice, they commit to it and therefore modify their attitudes and behaviours in line with this request. The present research examined whether the type of motivation (autonomy vs. control) plays a significant role in whether attitude and behaviour change will occur or not. Two 2 x 2 experiments investigated the effect of viewing an act as autonomously motivated (vs. control motivated) on attitude and behaviour change in conditions of free (vs. non-free) choice. Study 1 (N = 135) showed that when an act was performed in autonomy-supportive context, participants displayed more positive post-experimental attitudes and intention regarding this act. Moreover, they had a higher intention for this act when it was performed under free choice conditions. Study 2 (N = 123) showed that participants displayed more positive post-experimental attitudes towards an act when they received autonomy motivated reward for performing this act as well as when the act was performed under free choice conditions. A higher post-experimental intention for the act was also found in free choice autonomy motivated reward conditions compared to free choice control motivated reward conditions. These findings highlight the importance of autonomy and intrinsic motivation in the process of attitude change, and suggest autonomy is a prerequisite of complying with external requests.