RESEARCH ARTICLE Gratefully Received, Gratefully Repaid: The Role of Perceived Fairness in Cooperative Interactions

It is well documented that people would remunerate fair behaviours and penalize unfair behaviours. It is argued that individuals ’ reactions following the receipt of a gift depend on the perceived intentions of the donors. Fair intentions should prompt positive affect, like gratitude, triggering cooperative behaviours; while intended unfairness should trigger negative affect, like anger, fostering anti-social actions. It is, however, contended that when people lack information to infer others ’ intention they may use ‘normative ’ beliefs about fairness- what a typical fair individual ‘should ’ do in these circumstances – to guide their behaviour. In this experiment we examined this assertion. We had 122 participants play a one-shot, double-anonymous game with half playing as potential helpers (P1s) and half as recipients (P2s). Whether a participant was a P1 or P2 was chance-determined and all participants knew this. P1s decided whether to help P2s and whether to make their help unconditional (no repayment needed) or conditional (full or ‘taxed ’ repayment). P2s decided whether to accept the offer and whatever conditions attached but were blind to the list of helpin