satisfied with the looks of the genuinely available romantic possibilities
around us. More recent work by these authors takes their argument a
step farther, showing that exposure to the exaggerated sexual attract-
iveness of nude pinup bodies (in such magazines as Playboy and Playgirl)
causes people to become less pleased with the sexual desirability of
their current spouse or live-in mate (Kenrick, Gutierres, and Goldberg,
1989).
CHAPTER 2 (PAGES 17–56)
- A formal description of the greeting-card study is provided in Kunz
and Woolcott (1976). - Certain societies have formalized the rule into ritual. Consider for
example the “Vartan Bhanji,” an institutionalized custom of the gift
exchange common to parts of Pakistan and India. In commenting upon
the “Vartan Bhanji,” Gouldner (1960) remarks:
It is...notable that the system painstakingly prevents the total
elimination of outstanding obligations. Thus, on the occasion of
a marriage, departing guests are given gifts of sweets. In weighing
them out, the hostess may say, “These five are yours,” meaning
“These are a repayment for what you formerly gave me,” and then
she adds an extra measure, saying, “These are mine.” On the next
occasion, she will receive these back along with an additional
measure which she later returns, and so on.- The quote is from Leakey and Lewin (1978).
- For a fuller discussion, see Tiger and Fox (1971).
- The experiment is reported formally in Regan (1971).
- The statement appears in Mauss (1954).
- Surprise is an effective compliance producer in its own right. People
who are surprised by a request will often comply because they are
momentarily unsure of themselves and, consequently, influenced easily.
For example, the social psychologists Stanley Milgram and John Sabini
(1975) have shown that people riding on the New York subway were
twice as likely to give up their seats to a person who surprised them
with the request “Excuse me. May I have your seat?” than to one who
forewarned them first by mentioning to a fellow passenger that he was
thinking of asking for someone’s seat (56 percent vs. 28 percent). - It is interesting that a cross-cultural study has shown that those
who break the reciprocity rule in the reverse direction—by giving
without allowing the recipient an opportunity to repay—are also dis-
liked for it. This result was found to hold for each of the three national-
212 / Influence