The Norm of Reciprocity

As much as i like to think of myself as a strong-willed individual who doesn't easily allow others to influence me, I fall prey to compliance pretty often. Compliance is a kind of social influence where people alter their behavior because of direct requests. There are many ways to go about trying to elicit compliance in others, but sometimes they will do the work for you because of a rule of social behavior called the norm of reciprocity. The norm of reciprocity is otherwise known as the golden rule. It states that we treat others in the same way that they have treated us (Gouldner, 1960).

The norm of reciprocity can take affect without being purposefully elicited such as when someone feels compelled to go out of their way to return a favor for someone who has done something for them. However, it can also be used in a negative way when others use it against us. They can do this by doing small favors for us simply to get us to do something for them. Greenberg and Westcott (1983) defined people who use the norm of reciprocity to elicit compliance from others as "creditors". A questionnaire that measures reciprocation ideology can be used to identify these types of people. At the opposite end of the spectrum, there are those that are very suspicious of others and will try to not allow others to do favors for them so that there is no way that they can be exploited. A scale that measures reciprocation weariness can be used to measure this trait (Eisenberger et al, 1987).

Now, back to how I can sometimes fall prey to compliance. The times that I fall prey to compliance seem to always happen because of the norm of reciprocity. It only takes affect in certain situations for me, though. If I am dealing with someone that I do not like or that I am meeting for the first time and don't have a good impression of, then I will usually be very suspicious of them and I will try to not let them do me any favors. And, if they do give me something or do me a favor I don't feel compelled to pay them back. However, if I am dealing with someone that I like or that I want to like me then I will always feel compelled to pay them back. For example, last semester my fraternity sold some tickets to an event and a lot of my friends bought tickets and came. Later on in the semester, though, I saw that some of those same friends were selling tickets to an event for their fraternity. Fortunately they didn't try to elicit compliance from me by bringing up the fact that they bought tickets from me. However, I still felt compelled to buy tickets from them to repay them. I went over to the table and found out that the event was going to be on a day when I would not be able to go to it, but because I felt like a needed to repay them I bought a ticket anyway. I felt stupid for buying a ticket to something that I couldn't go to, but I used justification by telling myself that a large amount of the money was going to charity, which helped me feel a little better. I am hoping that learning about these principles of social influence will help me in the future to stay out of these kinds of situations.

References

Eisenberger, R., Cotterell, N., & Marvel, J. (1987). Reciprocation ideology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 743-750.

Gouldner, A. W. (1969). The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement. American Sociological Review, 25, 161-178.

Greenberg, M. S., & Westcott, D. R. (1983). Indebtedness as a mediator of reactions to aid. In J. D. Fisher, A. Nadler, & B. M. DePaulo (Eds.) New directions in helping: Col. 1 Recipient reactions to aid (pp. 85-112). New York: Academic Press.