The correct answer to this open question is the following.
Jason was approached by a student who asked him to sign a petition supporting funding for an environmental program. Although Jason never thought much about environmental issues, he signed the petition. A week later, a different student approached Jason and asked him to volunteer an hour a week to help start a community recycling program and to educate the community about environmental issues. Jason consented. His compliance to this second request can best be explained by the foot-in-the-door technique.
When the foot-in-the-door technique is used, people try to soften other people with a trivial or simple request in order to be accepted with not so much thinking. When the person has accepted to that simple original request then, it is time to ask it for something bigger or more complicated request. The idea is that people can accept a request if first, they accept to do something easy or less complicated.