Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion · chapter 2 · id influence-c2-01-the-norm-of-reciprocity-is-uni
“The norm of reciprocity is universal across human cultures -- every human society subscribes to the rule that obligates individuals to repay what they have received.”
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Receipts
Gouldner (1960), The Norm of Reciprocity, American Sociological Review 25(2)DOI registry: valid
A norm of reciprocity is, I suspect, no less universal and important an element of culture than the incest taboo.
Henrich et al. (2006), Costly Punishment Across Human Societies, Science 312(5781)DOI registry: valid
Cross-cultural experiments in 15 diverse societies showed substantial variation in reciprocal fairness norms. Market integration and community size predicted fairness offers, challenging the universality claim.
Henrich, Heine & Norenzayan (2010), The Weirdest People in the World?, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33(2-3)DOI registry: valid
Members of WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) are among the least representative populations for generalizing about human psychology, including norms of reciprocity.
This claim is a stable, citable object. If you can falsify a verdict, tell us — corrections are loud here.