Beyond payback: Grateful responses to help

In this work I propose that appreciation for a helper depends on the helper's instrumentality. Based on this proposal, I predict that the more motivated one is to accomplish some goal and the more a potential helper facilitates that goal, the more one will appreciate that helper. This implies that beneficiaries will appreciate their helpers more while they are receiving help toward an ongoing task than after that task has been completed. Six experiments support this prediction. This pattern of appreciation manifested even when helpers had provided objectively more benefits (and incurred objectively more cost) in the latter case. These studies further explore potential consequences of the proposed pattern of appreciation for behavioral reciprocation. Reciprocation behaviors did not follow the same pattern as appreciation. Instead, behavioral reciprocation (e.g., thank-you gift purchases) did not change as a function of task completion. Possible reasons for the apparent dissociation between emotions and behavior in this context are discussed. These studies also explored potential consequences for agreement between beneficiaries' experiences and helpers' expectations. Consistent with predictions, in four studies, helpers' guesses about the effects of task completion on their beneficiaries did not match the actual effects. Whereas actual appreciation decreased as a function of task completion, helpers often expected it to increase.