Korean Job Discussion Forums

[AJRimmer]

Influence: The Psychology of Persuassion by Robert Cialdini has an interesting chapter called "Reciprocation: The Old Give and Take..... and Take"

He talks about some studies that show even giving the smallest of gifts can significantly increase your chances of having a much larger request granted.

One really unexpected example of this need to return favours took place in Ethiopia in 1985. 1985 was not a good year to be an Ethiopian, people were dying in their thousands from malnutrition, the economy was in utter utter ruin......and members of the Ethiopian Red Cross with 5000 bucks to spend decide to donate the money to Mexico

There had been an earthquake in Mexico that year and the Ethiopians wanted to help the victims.
The reason??
In 1935 Mexico donated money to Ethiopia when they were invaded by Italy. 50 years later, the Ethiopians felt compelled to return the favour. The desire to repay a debt or reciprocate a gift is common to every culture on earth and there are people who take advantage of this fact, it is pretty easy to do.
Want to bum some money from an acquaintance? Give them a donut a few minutes before you ask