Reciprocity¶
Summary
Reciprocity is understood as the tendency to respond in kind to the actions of other people, that is, to respond to actions directed at oneself by acting in the same or a similar way (Fehr & Schmidt, 2005; Perugini et al., 2003). A distinction is drawn here between negative and positive reciprocity. Negative reciprocity is the tendency to respond to bad treatment by another person in a similarly negative way. Positive reciprocity relates to the tendency to respond positively to a positive experience. Reciprocity was measured in the SOEP in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020.
Theoretical Background
The scale is designed to measure reciprocity as an internalized norm within individuals. Reciprocity is understood as the tendency to respond to the actions of other people in kind, that is, to respond to actions directed at oneself by acting in the same or a similar way (Fehr & Schmidt, 2005; Perugini et al., 2003). The action may either have already occurred or be expected in the future. The concept of reciprocity can be used on three levels: 1. To describe real patterns of social exchange in society, 2. To describe the belief of social actors themselves that (and to what extent), from their point of view, relationships are regulated by the norm of reciprocity, 3. To describe the extent to which reciprocity is a norm that governs social actors in their daily interactions and internalized by individuals (Gouldner, 1960). Gouldner also argues that reciprocity is a basic norm that can be found in all historically known societies. Negative reciprocity can be distinguished from positive reciprocity. Negative reciprocity describes the tendency to respond negatively to negative treatment by another person and thus to negatively sanction this behavior. Positive reciprocity describes the tendency to approve and positively sanction positive interpersonal experiences, that is, to return favors. This distinction is required because different individuals respond more or less sensitively to positive or negative experiences and tend toward more or less positive or negative sanctions. Thus, individuals may be careful to always return favors but may at the same time (possible motivated by Christian norms of forgiveness) refrain from taking revenge or imposing penalties on others (Perugini et al. 2003). Empirically, positive and negative reciprocity are uncorrelated (Egloff, Richter & Schmukle, 2013). Both positive and negative reciprocity could be of interest in research on the motives for providing support of various kinds to friends and relatives or to engage in volunteer work, behavior in dilemma situations (game theory), and on forms of reciprocity as determinants of stability in social relationships.
Scale Development
The original scale (Perugini et al., 2003) consists of 27 items (nine per subscale) that were shortened for use in a survey to a total of nine (three per subscale), taking the three items with the highest factor loadings for each of the subscales. The three original dimensions could not, however, be extracted by means of principal component analysis in the 2004 SOEP pretest: the dimension “belief in reciprocity” is comprised of the dimensions “positive reciprocity” and “negative reciprocity.” That is, the theoretically postulated dimension “belief in reciprocity” is not empirically orthogonal to behavior. Thus, only the two factors “negative reciprocity” and “positive reciprocity” can be found consistently in the sample. Thus, in the shortened version of the questionnaire, only the six items in these two dimensions were used in the main SOEP survey. Further information on scale development and validity can be found in Dohmen et al. (2008, 2009).
References
Dohmen, T., Falk, A., Huffman, D., & Sunde, U. (2008). Representative trust and reciprocity: Prevalence and determinants. Economic Inquiry, 46, 81-90.
Dohmen, T., Falk, A., Huffmann, D., & Sunde, U. (2009). Homo reciprocans: Survey evidence on behavioral outcomes. Economic Journal, 119, 592 - 612.
Egloff, B., Richter, D., & Schmukle, S. C. (2013). Need for conclusive evidence that positive and negative reciprocity are unrelated. Comment on Yamagishi, T., et al. (2012) Rejection of unfair offers in the ultimatum game is no evidence of strong reciprocity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 110, 786.
Fehr, E. & Schmidt, K. M. (2006). The economics of fairness, reciprocity and altruism. Experimental evidence and new theories. Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity, 615-691.
Gouldner, A. W. (1960). The Norm of Reciprocity: A Preliminary Statement. American Sociological Review, 25, 161-178.
Perugini, M., Gallucci, M., Presaghi, F., & Ercolani, A. P. (2003). The personal norm of reciprocity. European Journal of Personality, 17, 251-283.
Items
To what degree do the following statements apply to you personally (In welchem Maße treffen die folgenden Aussagen auf Sie persönlich zu):
Positive
If someone does me a favor, I am prepared to return it (Wenn mir jemand einen Gefallen tut, bin ich bereit, dies zu erwidern)
I go out of my way to help somebody who has been kind to me in the past (Ich stenge mich besonders an, um jemandem zu helfen, der mir früher schon mal geholfen hat)
I am ready to assume personal costs to help somebody who helped me in the past (Ich bin bereit, Kosten auf mich zu nehmen, um jemanden zu helfen, der mir früher geholfen hat )
Scale: 1 (Does not apply to me at all / Trifft überhaupt nicht zu) to 7 (Applies to me perfectly / Trifft voll zu)
Test-Retest Correlations
Positive reciprocity was included in a retest taken by subsamples (N = 158) in 2005 within 30 to 49 days after the initial test. Test-retest correlations of the items were (in scale order) .25, .35, and .36; test-retest correlation of scale scores was .42.
Items and Scale Statistics
year |
variable |
count |
mean |
sd |
itemrestcorr |
alpha |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2005 |
plh0206i01 |
21015 |
6.45 |
0.88 |
0.41 |
0.64 |
2005 |
plh0206i04 |
20975 |
5.90 |
1.17 |
0.55 |
0.64 |
2005 |
plh0206i06 |
20949 |
5.28 |
1.48 |
0.45 |
0.64 |
2010 |
plh0206i01 |
18857 |
6.42 |
0.90 |
0.38 |
0.61 |
2010 |
plh0206i04 |
18822 |
5.88 |
1.18 |
0.50 |
0.61 |
2010 |
plh0206i06 |
18800 |
5.22 |
1.49 |
0.43 |
0.61 |
2015 |
plh0206i01 |
26987 |
6.40 |
0.94 |
0.35 |
0.61 |
2015 |
plh0206i04 |
26967 |
5.90 |
1.18 |
0.52 |
0.61 |
2015 |
plh0206i06 |
26877 |
5.31 |
1.49 |
0.43 |
0.61 |
2016 |
plh0206i01 |
4400 |
6.79 |
0.77 |
0.31 |
0.55 |
2016 |
plh0206i04 |
4393 |
6.78 |
0.71 |
0.46 |
0.55 |
2016 |
plh0206i06 |
4345 |
6.45 |
1.12 |
0.37 |
0.55 |
2017 |
plh0206i01 |
2883 |
6.82 |
0.62 |
0.31 |
0.56 |
2017 |
plh0206i04 |
2874 |
6.75 |
0.71 |
0.45 |
0.56 |
2017 |
plh0206i06 |
2854 |
6.42 |
1.16 |
0.45 |
0.56 |
2018 |
plh0206i01 |
426 |
6.81 |
0.62 |
0.28 |
0.53 |
2018 |
plh0206i04 |
422 |
6.72 |
0.84 |
0.44 |
0.53 |
2018 |
plh0206i06 |
422 |
6.34 |
1.29 |
0.40 |
0.53 |
2019 |
plh0206i01 |
280 |
6.71 |
0.76 |
0.52 |
0.71 |
2019 |
plh0206i04 |
277 |
6.48 |
1.16 |
0.61 |
0.71 |
2019 |
plh0206i06 |
279 |
6.14 |
1.38 |
0.54 |
0.71 |
2020 |
plh0206i01 |
30344 |
6.42 |
0.96 |
0.38 |
0.65 |
2020 |
plh0206i04 |
30309 |
5.97 |
1.19 |
0.55 |
0.65 |
2020 |
plh0206i06 |
30253 |
5.57 |
1.40 |
0.48 |
0.65 |
Items
To what degree do the following statements apply to you personally (In welchem Maße treffen die folgenden Aussagen auf Sie persönlich zu):
Negative
If I suffer a serious wrong, I will take revenge as soon as possible, no matter what the cost (Wenn mir schweres Unrecht zuteilwird, werde ich mich um jeden Preis bei der nächsten Gelegenheit dafür rächen)
If somebody puts me in a difficult position, I will do the same to him/her (Wenn mich jemand in eine schwierige Lage bringt, werde ich das Gleiche mit ihm zu machen)
If somebody offends me, I will offend him/her back (Wenn mich jemand beleidigt, werde ich mich ihm gegenüber beleidigend verhalten)
Scale: 1 (Does not apply to me at all / Trifft überhaupt nicht zu) to 7 (Applies to me perfectly / Trifft voll zu)
Test-Retest Correlations
Negative reciprocity was included in a retest taken by a subsample (N = 158) in 2005 within 30 to 49 days after the initial test. Test-retest correlations of the items were (in scale order) .44, .42, and .58; test-retest correlation of scale scores was .64.
Items and Scale Statistics
year |
variable |
count |
mean |
sd |
itemrestcorr |
alpha |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2005 |
plh0206i02 |
20947 |
3.21 |
1.73 |
0.71 |
0.83 |
2005 |
plh0206i03 |
20925 |
2.88 |
1.63 |
0.73 |
0.83 |
2005 |
plh0206i05 |
20952 |
3.24 |
1.73 |
0.61 |
0.83 |
2010 |
plh0206i02 |
18822 |
3.18 |
1.69 |
0.70 |
0.82 |
2010 |
plh0206i03 |
18785 |
2.83 |
1.59 |
0.73 |
0.82 |
2010 |
plh0206i05 |
18805 |
3.12 |
1.70 |
0.59 |
0.82 |
2015 |
plh0206i02 |
26921 |
2.77 |
1.67 |
0.68 |
0.81 |
2015 |
plh0206i03 |
26936 |
2.47 |
1.53 |
0.73 |
0.81 |
2015 |
plh0206i05 |
26939 |
2.85 |
1.70 |
0.56 |
0.81 |
2016 |
plh0206i02 |
4298 |
1.86 |
1.67 |
0.58 |
0.75 |
2016 |
plh0206i03 |
4324 |
1.58 |
1.35 |
0.64 |
0.75 |
2016 |
plh0206i05 |
4341 |
1.89 |
1.65 |
0.55 |
0.75 |
2017 |
plh0206i02 |
2815 |
1.68 |
1.47 |
0.56 |
0.72 |
2017 |
plh0206i03 |
2842 |
1.62 |
1.43 |
0.57 |
0.72 |
2017 |
plh0206i05 |
2857 |
1.85 |
1.65 |
0.50 |
0.72 |
2018 |
plh0206i02 |
413 |
1.90 |
1.67 |
0.52 |
0.68 |
2018 |
plh0206i03 |
414 |
1.76 |
1.62 |
0.57 |
0.68 |
2018 |
plh0206i05 |
421 |
2.32 |
2.00 |
0.42 |
0.68 |
2019 |
plh0206i02 |
271 |
2.12 |
1.68 |
0.58 |
0.75 |
2019 |
plh0206i03 |
276 |
2.02 |
1.60 |
0.65 |
0.75 |
2019 |
plh0206i05 |
276 |
2.43 |
1.88 |
0.53 |
0.75 |
2020 |
plh0206i02 |
30253 |
2.57 |
1.60 |
0.67 |
0.79 |
2020 |
plh0206i03 |
30278 |
2.30 |
1.47 |
0.70 |
0.79 |
2020 |
plh0206i05 |
30285 |
2.72 |
1.67 |
0.55 |
0.79 |