You owe me one!

 The Norm of Reciprocity in simple terms is the "golden rule" we were taught in school. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". This norm is based off of the social influence, Conformity which has the lowest power of influence on someone (Kelman, 1958). Conformity is when you as the person yield to group pressure when there has been no direct request (Kelman, 1958). It sounds like it has some power to it but compared to others you will see it does not. The next in line of power is Compliance, it is when you follow a direct request from someone of your status, like a peer (Kelman, 1958). Peer pressure is an example of this. The final social influence in which it has the most power is Obedience (Kelman, 1958). This is following the direct request from someone that has authority over you, like your parents or your boss (Kelman, 1958). Compared to the others Conformity seems like nothing. The Norm of Reciprocity is not the only way people get you to follow what they want you to do. There is the foot-in-the-door effect, the door-in-the-face effect, low-ball technique or better known as bait and switch, social proof, and lastly scarcity (Asch, 1955). The great thing about Conformity is that you do not have a direct request therefore you do not need to do whatever they want you to do.

I am pretty sure that this norm has happened to everyone whether you have been in a foreign country when a scam artist comes up to you and hand you a bracelet "for free" and then demand you make a donation. This scam happens a lot and all you need to do is walk away. There is also the famous grocery store one where the little old ladies are handing out free food samples and they tell you all about the food on how its great and you feel obligated in buying one because you feel that since they gave you something for free, you need to give something to them. Well guess what, they did not make those samples from scratch, nor do they get fired for not selling enough. Here is what you need to do tell them; it tastes like crap (that's what I do, and it shuts them up lol) or you could be nice and say oh wow I have to get that next time. Both of you know that you are bullshitting but it is a nice way of getting off the pressure. Both of these options work very well. As someone whose parents love Sam's Club, I have watched other people get sucked into these little scams and it is not going to happen to you anymore. There was this one time where I was at a hockey game and they had free lemonade and of course I ate that up, but then they started pressuring me to buy the whole pitcher or whatever the biggest size they could sell. Now as someone who is extremely broke, I could not afford a $30 pitcher. I told them no, and that I couldn't afford it, so they said they were going to put it down to $25 for me.... should I have been nice and just took it, yes, but then I would have to carry it around with me and I was definitely not going to do that. (So, I said something kind of mean now that I think about it). I told them that I was trying to be nice, but it does not taste good, and I set down the cup and left.... super mean for no reason but they should've taken the "no thank you" and left. No means no people!


n= 626


Citation: 

Kelman, H. C. (1958). Compliance, Conformity, and Obedience. Three Processes of Attitude Change. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2(1), 51–60. 

Asch, S. E. (1955). Opinions and Social Pressure. Scientific American, 193(5), 31–35.


Honor Code: I have completed this work with honor and integrity, and I am unaware of those who have not.

Sirena Sauceda

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