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Effects of Reciprocity Induction on Partial-Altruistic and Unequal-Asymmetric Labor Exchange Interactions

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Abstract

An experiment evaluated the effects of reciprocal behavior of a confederate on the behavior of a participant under concurrent individual and shared contingencies. The experimental situation consisted of solving a puzzle on two synchronized computer screens. Sixteen female and male university students were assigned to the same number of dyads, in which the other member was a confederate. They were divided into four groups of four dyads each. Groups 1 and 3 were exposed to an ascending percentage of reciprocal behavior by the confederate (0, 50, and 100%) whereas groups 2 and 4 were exposed to a descending percentage (100, 50, and 0%). All groups were exposed to two shared contingency situations: partial altruism, in which no points or tokens were provided, and unequal, and asymmetric labor exchange, in which different amounts of valuables were exchanged for earned points. Groups 1 and 2 were first exposed to the partial altruism situation whereas groups 3 and 4 were first exposed to the labor exchange situation. Results show that participants in all groups matched the reciprocal behavior of confederates, resulting in partial altruism during percentages larger than 0 in both conditions, with and without points and earnings. These results confirm previous findings suggesting that reciprocity is a function of the behavior of at least one of the members of the dyad. Results are also discussed in relation to the functional relevance for the occurrence of cultural and economic interactions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Veracruz, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    Lizbeth Pulido Avalos, Emilio Ribes Iñesta, Iván López Ortiz, Gloria A. Marinero Villa & Iván Hernández Miranda

  2. Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones en Conocimiento y Aprendizaje Humano, Av. Orizaba # 203, Fraccionamiento Veracruz, C.P. 91020, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    Lizbeth Pulido Avalos & Emilio Ribes Iñesta

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  1. Lizbeth Pulido Avalos
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  2. Emilio Ribes Iñesta
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  3. Iván López Ortiz
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  4. Gloria A. Marinero Villa
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  5. Iván Hernández Miranda
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Correspondence to Lizbeth Pulido Avalos.

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Conflict of Interest

Lizbeth Pulido, Emilio Ribes, Iván López, Gloria Marinero, and Iván Hernández declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Avalos, L.P., Iñesta, E.R., Ortiz, I.L. et al. Effects of Reciprocity Induction on Partial-Altruistic and Unequal-Asymmetric Labor Exchange Interactions. Psychol Rec 69, 25–37 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-018-0319-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-018-0319-7

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