To explore how respondent gender, influencer status, relationship closeness, and directness of a request affect compliance and resistance strategies, undergraduates (N=116) role-played responses to a professor's request. The status of the requester was higher than that of the resister, but the relative status of the requester was varied systematically. Closeness also was varied systematically. Students listened to tape recordings of a male professor asking a student to do one of five things: declare a major in his department, help him with research, help a colleague with research, take a course in his discipline, or go to an evening lecture on a topic in his discipline. Tapes varied by closeness of the student to the professor, whether the request was direct or indirect, and the professor's relative status on the faculty. Respondents role-played their response to the request. Compliance was greatest in the closest relationship and lowest in the medium close relationship. Status of the professor, relationship closeness, and request directness did not affect refusal strategies, but respondent status and gender did. Women were more likely to say they would refuse by telling the truth than were men, whereas men were more likely to describe other strategies. Thus, the nature of a relationship and respondent gender affected whether and how one refused requests. (Author/NB)