The Reciprocity-Arousing Potential of the Requester's Occupation and Helping Behavior

In a field experiment, 90 subjects were contacted by phone and asked by an experimenter to make a phone call for him notifying his employer that he would be late for work. The experimenter presented himself as a (1) physician vs. accountant (high social status occupations), (2) youthcounsellor vs. insurance salesman (medium social status occupations), or (3) fireman vs. gas-stationattendant (low social status occupations). It was found that subjects helped more frequently requesters in occupations of high potential for reciprocityarousing behavior (e.g., a physician) than of low potential (for reciprocityarousing behavior) (e.g., an accountant), regardless of the social status of the occupations.