Christmas Cards from Randoms

I was reading about a study some psychologists were doing that was testing the principle of reciprocity in the 1970s. They were conducting a study to look at the power of persuasion, through sending Christmas Cards to random people and waiting to see if they sent one back. The result was over whelming in the fact that these random people sent cards back to the psychologists.

Surprisingly, I did not dwell on the study being about the principle of reciprocity (a close tie to my ongoing skepticism of the Law of Attraction) when I thought about this study. The psychologists in this experiment were looking at whether or not people did nice things back when something nice was done to them, and if they could persuade people to elicit acts of kindness through reciprocity.

I was really intrigued with the fact that people sent Christmas Cards back to psychologists. I honestly don't know what I would do if I received a Christmas Card from Phillip Kunz or Micheal Woolcott (the experimenters). I mean I have to take into consideration that I am a female and this behavior could be easily interpreted by really nothing but creepy here in the twenty-first century.

Ok, so I take that out of the equation. I am not a female and I am not in the twenty-first century. I think I might be flattered by a random Christmas Card, but what could it possibly say on it that would be meaningful because Phillip and Michael don't know a thing about me. I might send a Christmas Card back asking who these people are and maybe wish them a Merry Christmas in the closure.

Do people appreciate favors from randoms more than they do from their loved ones? Apparently, this study shows individuals feel the need to reciprocate back, and yes I know there are missing variables that are are vital to make this experiment legitimate. There are so many Christmas Cards that lay around my house every year without a response sent back. We just aren't a Christmas Card kind of family, but I think we may seriously consider sending one back to a random more than my great-aunt's cousins.

Do you appreciate it more when the random girl in class loans you a dollar or when your best friend does? It's the same amount of money, right? I would think very highly of the random girl as she hands me her "extra" one dollar bill, even though I know I will be paying her back the next class period in fear of looking like a mooch. My best friend, though, somehow seems to have an obligation to loan me that dollar because I don't think I would appreciate it as much as the loan from the random. I expect my best friend to loan me the dollar, and she is probably the one that is most likely not going to get paid back out of the two contenders.

Doesn't seem so right, does it? Maybe we all need to stop expecting those who are close to us to just do little favors for us, and start appreciating the things they do for us. It's not that I think we shouldn't appreciate the randoms doing favors for us, but starting to appreciate favors our loved ones do for us instead of expecting them to, is just as important.