Cialdini raamat
By virtue of the
reciprocity rule, then, we are obligated to the future repayment of favors, gifts, invi-
tations, and the like. So typical is it for indebtedness to accompany the receipt of
such things that a phrase like "much obliged" has become a synonym for "thank
you," not only in the English language but in others as well (such as with the Por-
tuguese term "obrigado"). The future reach of the obligation is nicely connoted in
a Japanese word for thank you, "sumimasen," which means "this will not end" in its
literal form.
The impressive aspect of reciprocation with its accompanying sense of obli-
gation is its pervasiveness in human culture. It is so widespread that, after inten-
sive study, Alvin Gouldner (1960), along with other sociologists, report that all
human societies subscribe to the rule. 1 Within each society it seems pervasive also;
it permeates exchanges of every kind. Indeed, it may well be that a developed sys-
annaabi.ee 
