In human terms, this is the "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" phenomenon.

All I'm saying is you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.

A case of "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours!

The main principle for this stage is "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours."

The old adage 'You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' has kept humans happy in business for centuries.

Stage two is the relativist, or pragmatic "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" level.

"It creates a 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' mentality,' " he said.

He still buys into that old-fashioned mentality that you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, building the payroll and the jobs."

Much of the "generosity" we see in nature is actually quid pro quo--or "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours."

One explanation put forward by Trivers in 1971 was reciprocal altruism - 'You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours'.

And ... how do you Americans put it ... the practice of you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, became the rule.

The less charitable view of Caz's business model was of a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" approach in which a favour would be traded for a favour.

"For many years the standard explanation for altruistic behavior toward non-relatives has been based on reciprocity and reputation — a version of 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours,'" Phillips said.

EVERYTHING in DC is a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" proposition because Americans are too stupid t elect people with actual integrity.

We find it doubtful that group pressure has any positive effect on the way Member States behave; on the contrary, there will be even more political chumminess of the 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' variety.

"Wachovia won bids by playing an elaborate game of 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours,' rather than engaging in legitimate competition to win municipalities' business," said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.

At the film's surreal finale, Nick, the contractor's troubled son, "hasn't turned into Mario Cuomo," Mr. Sayles says, "but he at least realizes the negatives of the old way of you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours."

I am offended as an American that the process of governing has become so craven that the signers of a legislative provision with such profound implications will not even own up to the "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" negotiating process that plainly permitted the rider's insertion.

It can, however, make a real difference by requiring that each spending item in a bill represent the judgment of the whole Congress, rather than the wishes of a member whose special-interest proposal rides through on otherwise desirable legislation, carried into law by the "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" philosophy of politics.