From Robert Cialdini’s “Influence”
The Reciprocity Principle.
- “The rule says that we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us.”
- “If a woman does us a favor, we should do her one in return; if a man sends us a birthday present, we should remember his birthday with a gift of our own; if a couple invites us to a party, we should be sure to invite them to one of ours. By virtue of the reciprocity rule, then, we are obligated to the future repayment of favors, gifts, invitations, and the like.” (p. 17)
- The Reciprocity Principle even works with people you don’t like!
Examples:
- In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia. Mexico helped Ethiopia by sending aid. In 1985, Mexico had an earthquake. Ethiopia at the time was the most impoverished nation in the world. Ethiopia sent aid to Mexico! This is due to the Reciprocity Principle.
- Joe conducted an experiment. Joe was asked to rank art with another subject. Joe leaves the room to buy a Coke for himself and the subject. After they ranked the art, Joe asked the subject if he could help him out and buy raffle tickets from him. Joe does the same experiment with other subjects except he doesn’t buy them a Coke. The subjects that bought the most raffle tickets are the ones he bought a Coke for!
- Experiments were done to see if liking or disliking someone would effect the Reciprocity Principle. “For those who owed him a favor, it made no difference whether they liked him or not; they felt a sense of obligation to repay him, and they did. The subjects in that condition who indicated that they disliked Joe bought just as many of his tickets as did those who indicated that they liked him.” (p. 21)
- The Kirshna Cult gave people flowers. They pressed the flowers into people’s hands, even when people didn’t want it. “No this is our gift to you” Then the Kirshna Cult asked for donations. It worked!
- President Johnson did a lot of favors for Politicians. The Politicians passed a lot of President Johnson’s proposals. This is due to the Reciprocity Principle. President Carter, on the other hand, didn’t do favors for Politicians. President Carter had a hard time to get his proposals passed by Politicians.
- Grocery stores gave out free samples. After tasting the free samples, people often bought these products, even if they didn’t really like them.
- Amway salesmen brought products to people’s homes and told them they could try it for 24-72 hours with no obligations. These products came in a bag. Amway salesmen would come back to pick up the bag and often customers would buy these products.
- A German soldier lured an enemy into his border so he could take him in for questioning. “The frightened captive with only a piece of bread in his hand then performed what may have been the most important act of his life. He gave his enemy some of the bread. So affected was the German by this gift that he could not complete his mission.” (p. 29)
Rejection Than Retreat Method
- A boy asks a man if the wants to buy Boy Scout circus tickets for $5. The man saids no. Then the boy asks if he would buy chocolate bars for $1. The man buys two chocolate bars even though he didn’t really want them. Because the boy gave the man a concession, the man reciprocated by buying the chocolate bars.
- An experiment was done. Experimenters asked people if they would spend 2 hours per week as a counselor for juvenile delinquents for 2 years. Most people said no. Then they asked people if they would chaperone juvenile delinquents at the zoo for a day. A higher percentage of people said yes to the second request, if the first question was asked first.
- Salespeople will show an expensive deluxe model first. Then they will show a cheaper model. Customers tend to spend more if they see the expensive model first.