updates from the basement

so...i have spent the past few weeks coding my behavioral data....i know my life is fascinating....

but today while finishing up the reciprocal cooperation condition I realized something really cool (ok it is actually only cool if you are a sociology dork).....I had assumed that subjects would reciprocate only to the partner from the trial immediately preceeding....well it turns out, they actually have a longer memory than that....they will look like they actually defect to the preceeding trial and are reciprocating from multiple gifts from a trial 2 earlier...so you may ask why this is fascinating....well actually it is cool, because it supports work by Malinowski from the Kula ring, that once you receive a gift you must discharge that debt, it doesn't matter if it is immediate, but you must do it in a timely fashion. In addition, it is super cool, because it supports my more complicated view of the norm of reciprocity (and Gouldner's) that receiving a gift obligates you to return it, even if it is not immediate and that actors actually try to reduce this feeling of obligation....once I combine the behavioral and the attitudinal data, I will see how this will impact ideas of trustworthiness....which will be cool....but what it does in fact do, is really change how I think about commitment...which will have to be another entry....b/c i am way too pooped....