Hardwired into our mental DNA is the to reciprocate when we were seeing the gift the regions of the brain associated wish the motion in decision-making light up studies on the social and psychological aspects of this activity show the receiving the gift triggers a cognitive conflict that must be resolved the easiest way to resolve the conflict is to give something in return of equal or greater value in psychology is known as the theory of reciprocity or social reciprocity the Coca-Cola experiment is probably the most well-known study on reciprocity it was published in 1971 by this rague in this study the participants believed they were there to evaluate paintings also the room was a fellow participant Joe Joe was really reagan's assist first lady manipulated the degree to which a participant liked Joe by having the subject over here Joe being evaluating the art show was then left alone left alone with the participation of which point he would hand them a note asking them to buy some raffle tickles the results of the study showed the power giving them the condition where Joe did not give the participants a soda the degree to which they like joe interest how many raffle tickets they would bar but in the condition where joke it give us soda participants bought twice as many tickets as in the no soda condition regardless of the degree to which they like joe so not only did people that did not like joe buy tickets at twice the rate they ended up lying or raffle tickets for the cost of the tickets for the cost of the soda since the coca-cola study study there have been numerous experiments that confirmed that when you give you shall receive this is great if you're giving in a principled manner but this is where the slippery slope of ethics enters the equation savvy marketers apply the principle to generate revenue they know by giving you something small for free you will tend to spend much more for instance when you receive a letter in the mail asking for donations it often comes with something for three years ago it was a small package of stamps or adversely i received the donation letter that contained at Grandview crisp $1 bill at bill at shopping mall if you go to food court there's almost always someone handing out free bikes go to a trade show and he will walk away with a blog for honeybees surf the internet evidently you will be offered a free newsletter samples free newsletter samples for free trial it is up to you to decide where to draw the ethical line to draw the ethical line how exactly you want to use this tool to influence others and helping to achieve your goal personally don't send me a crisp dollar bill i know you just want more donations and don't really care about me i see it as intentional manipulation on the other hand keep the free samples coming in the food court think you believe your product and just want to offer me a tasty treat that might just persuade me to take a seat