Kuei-Hsian Han
Center for General Education and Core Curriculum Tamkang University
Using a modified TST method, the present study tested the influence of target ambiguity on participants’ memories of performing and receiving favors. Results of Study 1 showed that when the target of favor-doing was specific (A), participants tended to adopt the framework of social exchange theory to recall favor-doing episodes, specifically, the frequency and average efforts they recalled for Ihelped-A and A-helped-me favors were equal. However, when the target was ambiguous, participants’ memories seemed to be biased by self-serving, for they recalled more I-helped-A favors than A-helpedme, and the average efforts of I-helped-A were higher than those of Ahelped-me. In Study 2, participants were instructed to record favors they performed and received for four consecutive days. Again, the results supported the results of Study 1. Furthermore, the favors in study 2 were divided into big vs. small. Participants recorded more Ihelped-other big favors than other-helped-me when the favor targets were ambiguous. However, when the target was specific (A), participants recorded more A-helped-me big favors than I-helped-A. This may be caused by the Confucian concept of “paying back,” which refers to “paying more,” as opposed to the Western concept of “paying equally”.
Keywords: favor-doing, social exchange theory, self-serving bias, selfimage.