Understanding Reciprocity Why Positive Reciprocity Works
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Understanding Reciprocity Why Positive Reciprocity Works PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 18:45:39 UTC Contents Articles Reciprocity (social psychology) 1 Robert Cialdini 3 Social psychology 5 Altruism 17 Persuasion 30 References Article Sources and Contributors 39 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 40 Article Licenses License 41 Reciprocity (social psychology) 1 Reciprocity (social psychology) Reciprocity in social psychology refers to responding to a positive action with another positive action, rewarding kind actions. As a social construct, reciprocity means that in response to friendly actions, people are frequently much nicer and much more cooperative than predicted by the self-interest model; conversely, in response to hostile actions they are frequently much more nasty and even brutal.[] Reciprocity as a behavior People categorize an action as kind by viewing its consequences and also by the person's fundamental intentions. Even if the consequences are the same, underlying intentions can cause an action to be reciprocated differently.[1] Reciprocity is considered as a strong determining factor of human behavior. Positive reciprocal actions differ from altruistic actions as the former only follow from other positive actions and they differ from social gift giving in that those are not actions taken with the hope or expectation of future positive responses. The focus of reciprocity is centered more on trading favors than making a negotiation or a contract with another person. With reciprocity, a small favor can produce a sense of obligation to a larger return favor. This feeling of obligation allows an action to be reciprocated with another action. Because there is a sense of future obligation with reciprocity it can help to develop and continue relationships with people. Reciprocity works because from a young age people are taught to return favors and to disregard this teaching will lead to the social stigma of being an ingrate. Reciprocity as a form of social obligation calling for future acts kindness can be seen in the Japanese word for thank you, "sumimasen," which means "this will not end"[2] It is also presented in the Bulgarian word for thank you "Благо-даря" (blago-dariya), which means "Good I'll Give". Positive and negative reciprocity Cooperative reciprocal tendencies i.e. inclinations to give back in a cooperative manner, are called positive reciprocity. On the other hand, retaliatory aspects i.e. the aspects of trying to get back and cause harm, are known as negative reciprocity. Unlike "cooperative" or "retaliatory" behavior in repeated interactions, reciprocity is an in-kind response to beneficial or harmful acts with no material gains expected by the actor. Some examples of positive reciprocity include smiling waitresses getting tipped much more than less friendly ones (Tidd and Lochard, 1978), calls for contributions to charities being accompanied by small gifts, use of free samples of a certain product in a supermarkets (Cialdini, 1993). Dennis Regan's experiment on returning a favor Reciprocal actions are important to social psychology as they can help explain the maintenance of social norms. Reciprocity is so strong that a person will feel obligated to return a favor regardless of whether they like the person who originally gave the favor and even if they did not want the favor, as was demonstrated in an experiment by Dennis Regan in 1971.[3] Regan had subjects believe they were in an “art appreciation” experiment with a partner, who was really Regan’s assistant. In the experiment the assistant would disappear for a two-minute break and bring back a soft drink for the subject. After the art experiment was through, the assistant asked the subject to buy raffle tickets from him. In the control group the assistant behaved in exactly the same manner, but did not buy the subject a drink. The subjects who had received the favor, a soft drink, bought more raffle tickets than those in the control group despite the fact that they hadn’t asked for the drink to begin with. Regan also had the subjects fill out surveys after they finished the experiment and found that whether they personally liked the assistant or not had no effect on how many tickets they bought. One problem of reciprocity, however, focuses on the unequal profit obtained from the concept of reciprocal concessions. The emotional burden to repay bothers some more than others, causing some to overcompensate with more than what was given originally. In the Regan study, subjects paid more money for the Reciprocity (social psychology) 2 tickets than the cost of the (un-requested) soft drink. Public good experiments In public good experiments, behavioral economists have demonstrated that the potential for reciprocal actions by players increases the rate of contribution to the public good, providing evidence for the importance of reciprocity in social situations.[] Concessions It may be a motivation for returning favors from others. A form of reciprocity is "reciprocal concessions," in which the requester lowers his/her initial request, making the respondent more likely to agree to a second request. The respondent agrees because the requester has lowered his/her request, making a concession to the respondent. The respondent then experiences the social obligation to make a concession in kind back to the requester, and thus agrees to the second, lower request.[4] An example provided by Robert Cialdini in Influence: Science and Practice is a young boy asking Cialdini to purchase circus tickets (the initial request). When Cialdini declined, the boy lowered or "conceded" his request to merely buying some candy bars. Cialdini, seeing that the boy has made a concession, feels obligated to "return the favor" (reciprocate) and agrees to this second request. References [2] Cialdini, R.B. Influence: Science and Practice, 5th ed. Boston: Pearson. Robert Cialdini 3 Robert Cialdini Robert B. Cialdini Dr. Robert B. Cialdini Born April 27, 1945 Occupation Psychologist, Author Robert B. Cialdini is Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University. He is best known for his book on persuasion and marketing, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Influence has sold over 2 million copies and has been translated into twenty-six languages. It has been listed on the New York Times Business Best Seller List. Fortune Magazine lists Influence in their "75 Smartest Business Books." [1] Influence Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (ISBN 0-688-12816-5) has also been published as a textbook under the title Influence: Science and Practice (ISBN 0-321-01147-3). In writing the book, he spent three years going "undercover" applying for jobs and training at used car dealerships, fund-raising organizations, and telemarketing firms to observe real-life situations of persuasion. The book also reviews many of the most important theories and experiments in social psychology. Harvard Business Review lists Dr. Cialdini's research in "Breakthrough Ideas for Today's Business Agenda". Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion was included in 50 Psychology Classics (ISBN 978-1-85788-386-2) by Tom Butler-Bowdon, alongside works by Adler, Freud, Jung, Pavlov and Piaget. 6 key principles of influence by Robert Cialdini • Reciprocity - People tend to return a favor, thus the pervasiveness of free samples in marketing. In his conferences, he often uses the example of Ethiopia providing thousands of dollars in humanitarian aid to Mexico just after the 1985 earthquake, despite Ethiopia suffering from a crippling famine and civil war at the time. Ethiopia had been reciprocating for the diplomatic support Mexico provided when Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. The good cop/bad cop strategy is also based on this principle. • Commitment and Consistency - If people commit, orally or in writing, to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honor that commitment because of establishing that idea or goal as being congruent with their self-image. Even if Robert Cialdini 4 the original incentive or motivation is removed after they have already agreed, they will continue to honor the agreement. Cialdini notes Chinese brainwashing on American prisoners of war to rewrite their self-image and gain automatic unenforced compliance. See cognitive dissonance. • Social Proof - People will do things that they see other people are doing. For example, in one experiment, one or more confederates would look up into the sky; bystanders would then look up into the sky to see what they were seeing. At one point this experiment aborted, as so many people were looking up that they stopped traffic. See conformity, and the Asch conformity experiments. • Authority - People will tend to obey authority figures, even if they are asked to perform objectionable acts. Cialdini cites incidents such as the Milgram experiments in the early 1960s and the My Lai massacre. • Liking - People are easily persuaded by other people that they like. Cialdini cites the marketing of Tupperware in what might now be called viral marketing. People were more likely to buy if they liked the person selling it to them. Some of the many biases favoring more attractive people are discussed. See physical attractiveness stereotype. • Scarcity - Perceived scarcity will generate demand. For example, saying offers are available for a "limited time only" encourages sales. Selected publications • Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive. Authors: Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin and Robert B. Cialdini. Simon and Schuster, 2008, ISBN 978-1-4165-7096-7. • Compliance with a request in two cultures: The differential influence of social proof and commitment/consistency on collectivists and individualists. Authors: Cialdini, R.B., Wosinska, W., Barrett, D.W., Butner, J. & Gornik-Durose, M. (1999). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 25, 1242-1253. • Cialdini, R. B., Sagarin, B. J., & Rice, W. E. (2001). Training in ethical influence.