Bah humbug: Unexpected Christmas cards and the reciprocity norm

ABSTRACT

The reciprocity norm refers to the expectation that people will help those who helped them. A well-known study revealed that the norm is strong with Christmas cards, with 20% of people reciprocating a Christmas card received from a stranger. I attempted to conceptually replicate and extend this effect. In Study 1, 755 participants received a Christmas card supposedly from a more- versus less-similar stranger. The reciprocation rate was unexpectedly low (2%), which did not allow for a test of a similarity effect. Two potential reasons for this low rate were examined in Study 2 in which 494 participants reported their likelihood of reciprocating a Christmas card from a stranger as well as their felt suspicions/threat about the card and their frequency of e-mail use. Reciprocation likelihood was negatively correlated with perceived threat/suspicion and e-mail use. It appears that reciprocating a gift from a stranger in offline settings may be less likely than expected.

KEYWORDS:

• Christmas cards
• greeting cards
• norm of reciprocity
• social norms

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Gettysburg College for supporting this research and Courtney M. Lappas for her help with the studies.

Notes

^1. The complete materials and data for both studies are available online and can be accessed from this permanent link: osf.io/8g5fy (Meier, 2015).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brian P. Meier

Brian P. Meier is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Gettysburg College. His research interests include aggression, embodiment, mindfulness, pro-social behavior, and social norms.