Elements of a Script for Friendship in Transactions

Abstract

Social norms constrain people's behaviors in transactions, but such norms are rarely investigated. Script theory provides a coherent, holistic structure for understanding socially mediated behaviors. This study proposes terms of a script for the pricing behavior of transactors when friendship is considered. The script generates testable hypotheses, which are studied in three lab-based experiments. Vignette studies considered the effect of friendship on two-party transactions and revealed consistent behaviors. Without discussion, subjects exhibit consistent agreement for what constitutes appropriate pricing for friends and for strangers in different contexts: when pricing a variety of commodities for a transaction, when acting as agents for a friend or a stranger, and when observing others engaged in such transactions.

Social Motive Expectations and the Concession Timing Effect

“…Results suggest that an individual's script for negotiating with a cooperatively-oriented partner may differ from the script he or she would use for an individually-oriented partner (Halpern, 1996(Halpern, , 1997a). An immediate concession was consistent with the script for negotiating with a cooperatively-oriented person.…”

“…Individuals may have a different script for negotiating with a person with whom they perceive to have a cooperative social motive or are in close relationship. A script is a hypothesized cognitive structure (Abelson, 1981 (Halpern, 1996(Halpern, , 1997a. Negotiators in a close relationship begin with less demanding initial offers (Halpern, 1994(Halpern, , 1997a(Halpern, , 1997bSchoeninger & Wood, 1969) and reach agreements more quickly (Schoeninger & Wood, 1969).…”

“…A script is a hypothesized cognitive structure (Abelson, 1981 (Halpern, 1996(Halpern, , 1997a. Negotiators in a close relationship begin with less demanding initial offers (Halpern, 1994(Halpern, , 1997a(Halpern, , 1997bSchoeninger & Wood, 1969) and reach agreements more quickly (Schoeninger & Wood, 1969). In addition, they make early concessions to each other in order to maintain the relationship and tend to reach sub-optimal agreements (Fry, Firestone, & Williams, 1983).…”

Social Exchange Theory: Premises and Prospects

“…To the extent that both parties value their relationship, the risk of exploitation is lessened. They are even willing to tolerate lapses in reciprocation as shown in experiments that compare bargaining between friends and non-friends (Halpern, 1994(Halpern, , 1997. In fact, by tolerating lapses, the bond between the parties may be strengthened as one party increases its indebtedness to the other (see Larson's discussion).…”

Racialized perceptions and child neglect

“…These studies have focused on measuring agents' practices (Barling & Huthinson, 2000; Corazzini, 2003), analyzing individuals' preferences (Feitelson, 1992), measuring people's behaviors (Halpern, 1997), identifying psychological problems (Pottick, 2003), and rating life satisfaction (Bouazzaoui & Mullet, 2002). Researchers have used “vignettes” as the main analytical method of a study or with other analytical tools (Campanelli & Channell, 1994).…”