The Reciprocity Principle

Part 1 of 6 — Dr. Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

In the previous article, we covered the 6 different principles from Dr. Robert Cialdini’s book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. There we learned that there are a myriad of ways we are nudged into compliance, and that one can learn how to utilize these kernels of truth to your advantage.

For today however, we will be focusing on one principle. And that principle is Reciprocity. But first, what is reciprocity?

Reciprocity is the human tendency to give back when we have received something from another. This is because of a feeling of indebtedness that occurs whenever a person receives something from another, and this indebtedness is what drives us to try and reciprocate their initial offering. A few examples in daily life would be:

• Invited someone to your birthday celebration because they invited you to theirs last time
• Treated a friend to dinner because he/she picked up the tab the last time.

Reciprocity can be traced back to the prehistoric era. This might have been one of the few factors on how societies were able to emerge and flourish. A tribesman for example, would feel obligated to do something nice or give perhaps, say, a piece of fruit to his tribesmen, because a few days back tribesman b gave him a chunk of meat, or saved him from enemy tribesmen. One thing to also note, is that humans were able to develop an intrinsic dislike for people who fail to oblige to this principle. Notice how certain individuals who keep on taking and taking, but don’t try to return the favor are generally ostracized or avoided. Reciprocity is one of the invisible contracts that bind groups of humans together, so that their societies may flourish and continue to grow. This is how we were able to develop the idea of “working together”.

A lot of different groups actually use this principle to their advantage like for example, the Hare Krishna group. and that what they did was their members would be waiting inside airports and once you pass by they would offer you a flower “as a gift”. Once you’ve accepted it however, your brain will suddenly experience a slight change and boom, you now have a feeling of indebtedness to them. They will now ask gently for a donation, and a few seconds later while walking, you will wonder how you were actually made to give out money even though you consciously did not want to. This is how the reciprocity principle is used in marketing and as we can all see, is a very powerful tool once learned. Take note that the Hare Krishna group was able to garner millions of dollars from donations alone. Let that sink in for a moment.

Examples

Now what we want to achieve of course is to be able to utilize this principle in our marketing efforts to create more growth in our businesses. How is this possible? Here are a few examples

1. ) Getting coupons- A coffee shop for example gives out a coupon that entitles you with a free iced coffee. Once a person accepts that and exchanges his coupon for a free coffee, he already has the reciprocity principle activated and he will find himself buying a chocolate chip cookie. The coffee shop gets a sale, and a possible returning customer.
2. ) Freemium services- A lot of different tech companies offer this in their applications. They will let you use their application for free, and you will only pay when and if you want to increase the level of service.
3. ) Mini freebies- The promoter who gives free samples can release the natural indebting force inherent in a gift while innocently apearing to have only the intention to inform.
4. ) Waiter example- In the book, Cialdini cited an example wherein a waiter who gave mints to customers before letting them pay the tab increased his tips up to 23%