Reciprocity
Don’t Accept Free Drinks
People have extreme difficulty being in another person’s debt.
It is also an ancient technique. We find reciprocity in all species whose food supplies are subject to high fluctuations.
Good Side
Reciprocity is a very useful survival strategy, a form of risk managment. Without it,
humanity - and countless species of animal - would be long extinct. It is at the core of
cooperation between people who are not related to each other and a necessary ingredient for
economic growth and wealth creation. There would be no global economy without it - there
would be no economy at all. That’s the good side of reciprocity.
Ugly side
But there is also an ugly side of reciprocit: retaliation. Revenge breeds counter-revenge and you soon find yourself in a full-scale war. So compelling is the pull of reciprocity even when the stakes are far less high.