Emotional predictors of returning a favour: Behavioural experiments in the United States and Japan

Abstract

We examined emotional predictors of favour-returning behaviour in the United States (Study 1) and tested whether the findings in the United States would replicate in a culturally different context in Japan (Study 2). In both experiments, participants played a collaborative 10-question trivia game with a ‘partner’ (an experimental confederate) and were told that they would receive 10 lottery tickets if the team answered 7 or more questions correctly. In the favour condition, participants had to rely on their partner to get seven correct answers, whereas in the no-favour condition, they did not. After the game was over, they were given an opportunity to give their lottery tickets to their partner. In both experiments, participants in the favour condition gave more tickets than those in the no-favour condition. In Study 1, the degree to which United States participants felt indebtedness towards their partner predicted the number of lottery tickets given. In Study 2, the degree to which Japanese participants felt sorry and respect towards their partner predicted the number of lottery tickets given. These findings suggest that reciprocal behaviour might be driven by different emotions across cultures.