Compliance My research on compliance has examined sequential-request techniques and variables that increase or decrease agreement to a request.
Burger, J. M., Messian, N., Patel, S., del Prado, A., & Anderson, C. (2004). What a coincidence! The effects of incidental similarity on compliance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 35-43. [PDF]
Burger, J. M., & Guadagno, R. E. (2003). Self-concept clarity and the foot-in-the-door procedure. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 25, 79-86. Burger, J. M., & Cornelius, T. (2003). Raising the price of agreement: Public commitment and the low-ball compliance procedure. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33, 923-934. Burger, J. M., & Caldwell, D. C. (2003). The effects of monetary incentives and labeling on the foot-in-the-door effect: Evidence for a self-perception process. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 25, 235-241. Burger, J. M., Soroka, S., Gonzago, K., Murphy, E., & Somervell, E. (2001). The effect of fleeting attraction on compliance to requests. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1578-1586. [PDF] Burger, J. M. (1999). The foot-in-the-door compliance procedure: A multiple-process analysis and review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3,303-325. [PDF] Milgram Replication I recently conducted a partial replication of Stanley Milgram’s famous obedience studies that allowed for useful comparisons with the original investigations while protecting the well-being of participants. We found obedience rates in 2006 only slightly lower than what Milgram found 45 years earlier. Contrary to expectation, participants who saw a confederate refuse the experimenter’s instructions obeyed as often as those who saw no model. Men and women did not differ in their rate of obedience, but we found some evidence that individual differences in empathic concern and desire for control affected participants’ responses.
The research was featured in the January 3, 2007 broadcast of ABC News’ Primetime. You can see a short summary of that broadcast at http://a.abcnews.com/Primetime/story?id=2765416&page=1 You can purchase a copy of the broadcast at http://www.amazon.com/ABC-News-Primetime-Basic-Instincts/dp/B000VHY8DW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1201295775&sr=1-1
A paper describing the study is in press at American Psychologist. You can read a pre-copyedited version of the paper here: (Replicating Milgram)
 
Perception of and Motivation for Personal Control For many years, I have conducted research on individual differences in desire for control -- the extent to which people are motivated to feel in control of the events in their lives. I published the Desirability of Control Scale in 1979, and summarized the first decade of research on the scale in my 1992 book (listed below). I also am interested in how people respond to perceived increases and decreases in personal control. Burger, J. M., & Lynn, A. L. (2005). Superstitious behavior among American and Japanese professional baseball players. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 27, 71-76. [PDF]
Burger, J. M. (1995). Need for control and self-esteem: Two routes to a high desire for control. In M. Kernis (Ed.), Efficacy, agency, and self-esteem (pp. 217-233). New York: Plenum. Burger, J. M. (1992). Desire for control: Personality, social and clinical perspectives. New York: Plenum. Burger, J. M. (1989). Negative reactions to increases in perceived personal control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 246-256. Link to Desirability of Control Scale (Word File)
Personality Textbook  My undergraduate textbook, Personality, is now in its seventh edition (2008, Wadsworth/Thomson Learning). The book is organized to reflect my belief that the study of personality should not be limited to either the traditional theories approach or to a strict empirical presentation. Rather, I have maintained from the first edition that a full understanding of personality requires an examination of theory and research. After an introductory chapter and a chapter on personality research methods, the book is divided into seven sections. Each section reflects a different approach to understanding personality -- Freudian, Neo-Freudian, Trait, Biological, Humanistic, Behavioral/Social Learning, and Cognitive.
Each of these sections contains two chapters. The first chapter presents information about theory, assessment and application. The second is devoted to relevant research. Each of the research chapters is divided into three to five research topics. Each topic represents a well-developed area of personality research with ties to the corresponding theories. For example, the topics for the Freudian research chapter are dream interpretation, defense mechanism, Freud's theory of humor, and hypnosis. The topics in the trait research chapter include achievement motivation, Type A, social anxiety, emotions, and optimism-pessimism. The chapters reflect my belief that students learn about research best by seeing programs of research, rather than a few isolated examples. There are 26 research topics presented in depth in the book. For more information, click Personality |
