Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2016
Department 1
Psychology
Abstract
The reciprocity norm refers to the expectation that people will help those who helped them. A well-known study revealed that the norm is strong with Christmas cards, with 20% of people reciprocating a Christmas card received from a stranger. I attempted to conceptually replicate and extend this effect. In Study 1, 755 participants received a Christmas card supposedly from a more- versus less-similar stranger. The reciprocation rate was unexpectedly low (2%), which did not allow for a test of a similarity effect. Two potential reasons for this low rate were examined in Study 2 in which 494 participants reported their likelihood of reciprocating a Christmas card from a stranger as well as their felt suspicions/threat about the card and their frequency of e-mail use. Reciprocation likelihood was negatively correlated with perceived threat/suspicion and e-mail use. It appears that reciprocating a gift from a stranger in offline settings may be less likely than expected.
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
DOI
10.1080/00224545.2015.1129306
Recommended Citation
Meier, Brian P. "Bah Humbug: Unexpected Christmas Cards and the Reciprocity Norm." Journal of Social Psychology (2016), 1-6.
Required Publisher's Statement
Original version is available from the publisher at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224545.2015.1129306