Reciprocation Tendency

One of Charlie Munger’s human-misjudgment tendencies in Charlie Munger — The Psychology of Human Misjudgment: the deep human reflex to repay favors, concessions, and gifts in kind — which “compliance practitioners” can trigger subconsciously to manipulate behavior. Munger cites Cialdini’s campus experiment demonstrating its power.

Context: Reciprocation is one of Robert Cialdini’s principles of influence: an unsolicited favor or concession creates a felt obligation to give something back, a lever salespeople and negotiators exploit (e.g. the “rejection-then-retreat” concession tactic).

Where this appears

• Charlie Munger — The Psychology of Human Misjudgment — Munger recounts Cialdini’s experiment in which “compliance practitioners” wandered campus exploiting subjects’ subconscious reciprocation tendency.