Reciprocity

02What People Think

“Every kind act either expects an exact repayment or has nothing to do with future behavior.”

03What’s Underneath

A neighbor collects a parcel when you are away. Later, you notice a chance to help them and are more willing to do so because of that earlier gesture. This is direct reciprocity: the response goes back to the person whose action affected you. The returned help need not match the original favor item for item.

Reciprocity is a broad pattern of responding to received treatment. It can help sustain cooperation, and it can also take negative forms when unfavorable treatment prompts an unfavorable response. A returned gesture may be spontaneous, guided by a social norm or influenced by expectations about continuing contact.

A quid pro quo specifies a particular exchange more closely. Tit for tat, in repeated-game analysis, prescribes an exact rule: cooperate first and then copy the other player’s last move. Reciprocity by itself requires neither that rule nor precise accounting. Research also distinguishes paying treatment forward to a different person, which changes the path of the response.

04The Game

Whose earlier action is influencing this response, and is the return going to the same person? Looking at the connection between actions reveals more than simply counting favors.