The purpose of the present study was to examine some factors influencing reciprocative help: Two variables, help intentionality (voluntary and compulsory help) and experience of being helped (first < no prior > and again help < prior >), were manipulated in a 2 × 2 factorial design. In experiment, 313 subjects were confronted with a hypothesized helping situation and asked to answer several questions about their reactions to that situation. The results indicated that subjects in the prior help condition evaluated other more positively than subjects in the no prior help condition. The subjects in the voluntary help condition felt more positive other than the subjects in the compulsory condition. And prior help made them have more willingness of reciprocation. However, help intentionality had no effect on that willingness. These results were discussed in terms of reciprocity theory.
