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Qian P, Bridgers S, Taliaferro M, Parece K, Ullman TD. Ambivalence by design: A computational account of loopholes. Cognition 2024; 252:105914. [PMID: 39178715 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Revised: 07/31/2024] [Accepted: 08/02/2024] [Indexed: 08/26/2024]
Abstract
Loopholes offer an opening. Rather than comply or directly refuse, people can subvert an intended request by an intentional misunderstanding. Such behaviors exploit ambiguity and under-specification in language. Using loopholes is commonplace and intuitive in everyday social interaction, both familiar and consequential. Loopholes are also of concern in the law, and increasingly in artificial intelligence. However, the computational and cognitive underpinnings of loopholes are not well understood. Here, we propose a utility-theoretic recursive social reasoning model that formalizes and accounts for loophole behavior. The model captures the decision process of a loophole-aware listener, who trades off their own utility with that of the speaker, and considers an expected social penalty for non-cooperative behavior. The social penalty is computed through the listener's recursive reasoning about a virtual naive observer's inference of a naive listener's social intent. Our model captures qualitative patterns in previous data, and also generates new quantitative predictions consistent with novel studies (N = 265). We consider the broader implications of our model for other aspects of social reasoning, including plausible deniability and humor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peng Qian
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, United States of America; Department of Psychology, Harvard University, United States of America.
| | - Sophie Bridgers
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, United States of America; Department of Psychology, Harvard University, United States of America
| | - Maya Taliaferro
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, United States of America
| | - Kiera Parece
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, United States of America
| | - Tomer D Ullman
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, United States of America
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2
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Levine S, Kleiman-Weiner M, Chater N, Cushman F, Tenenbaum JB. When rules are over-ruled: Virtual bargaining as a contractualist method of moral judgment. Cognition 2024; 250:105790. [PMID: 38908304 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2022] [Revised: 04/01/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 06/24/2024]
Abstract
Rules help guide our behavior-particularly in complex social contexts. But rules sometimes give us the "wrong" answer. How do we know when it is okay to break the rules? In this paper, we argue that we sometimes use contractualist (agreement-based) mechanisms to determine when a rule can be broken. Our model draws on a theory of social interactions - "virtual bargaining" - that assumes that actors engage in a simulated bargaining process when navigating the social world. We present experimental data which suggests that rule-breaking decisions are sometimes driven by virtual bargaining and show that these data cannot be explained by more traditional rule-based or outcome-based approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sydney Levine
- Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, United States of America; Department of Psychology, Harvard University, United States of America; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States of America
| | - Max Kleiman-Weiner
- Foster School of Business, University of Washington, United States of America
| | - Nick Chater
- Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, United Kingdom
| | - Fiery Cushman
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, United States of America
| | - Joshua B Tenenbaum
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States of America
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3
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Moncrieff M. Terrorism as Coalitional Predation: Explaining Definitional Ambiguities and Precautionary Responses. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 22:14747049241263995. [PMID: 39051590 PMCID: PMC11273568 DOI: 10.1177/14747049241263995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2023] [Revised: 05/30/2024] [Accepted: 06/09/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Terrorism continues to be an enigmatic and contested concept, lacking a universally accepted definition despite extensive scholarly debate. Lay intuitions, however, demonstrate a notable convergence in identifying acts as "terrorism" when specific situational features are present, such as indiscriminate violence and out-group perpetration. These features elicit predictable and robust precautionary responses, raising the question: Is there a unified and parsimonious explanation for these phenomena? It is hypothesized that a situational template exists in the human mind, the coalitional predation template (CPT), which evolved not to detect modern-day terrorism, per se, but to identify and respond to situations of predatory coalitional conflict. The paper examines the potential cues and mechanisms that constitute the psychological systems activated by such threats, suggesting that matching the input cues of the CPT triggers well-documented precautionary responses to terrorism. However, this cue-based system may not align neatly with contemporary threats, leading to disproportionate responses to some threats while underestimating others. The model also posits that interpretations of violence can vary due to incomplete cues and the social position of the evaluator, leading to public disagreements and inconsistencies in defining terrorism. Consequently, arriving at an unambiguous and widely accepted definition of terrorism may not be possible. The model presented may account for a range of phenomena, including the inclination towards attributing mental illness to particular violent incidents and the uncanny surface similarities between terrorism and war crimes. The findings have significant implications for both the theoretical understanding of terrorism and practical policy responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Moncrieff
- Department of International Public Law & International Organization, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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4
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Lee K, Hare D, Blossey B. Measuring perceived fitness interdependence between humans and non-humans. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2024; 6:e16. [PMID: 38572224 PMCID: PMC10988171 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2024.10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2023] [Revised: 01/12/2024] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Conservation ethics (i.e. moral concern for non-human organisms) are widespread, but we lack a comprehensive explanation for why people care about other species at all, and why they express strong moral concern for some species but not others. Recent theory suggests that conservation ethics might be rooted in cooperation between humans and members of other species. Building on central predictions of this eco-evolutionary theory, we conducted an online study (N = 651) and exploratory factor analysis to develop two scales that independently measure perceived fitness interdependence (PFI) and conservation ethics. The PFI scale measures perceived shared fate as a proximate indicator of human fitness interdependence with non-human organisms (i.e. the degree to which humans and other organisms influence each other's evolutionary success, that is, survival and reproduction). We designed the conservation ethics scale to measure moral beliefs and attitudes regarding those organisms. Both scales are composed of two factors and demonstrate good internal reliability. By combining insights from various branches of the evolutionary human sciences, including evolutionary anthropology, evolutionary psychology and human behavioural ecology, we offer empirical tools to investigate eco-evolutionary foundations of conservation ethics and behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katie Lee
- Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Darragh Hare
- Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
- Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Bernd Blossey
- Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
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5
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Quillien T, Tooby J, Cosmides L. Rational inferences about social valuation. Cognition 2023; 239:105566. [PMID: 37499313 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105566] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Revised: 06/20/2023] [Accepted: 07/15/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
The decisions made by other people can contain information about the value they assign to our welfare-for example how much they are willing to sacrifice to make us better off. An emerging body of research suggests that we extract and use this information, responding more favorably to those who sacrifice more even if they provide us with less. The magnitude of their trade-offs governs our social responses to them-including partner choice, giving, and anger. This implies that people have well-designed cognitive mechanisms for estimating the weight someone else assigns to their welfare, even when the amounts at stake vary and the information is noisy or sparse. We tested this hypothesis in two studies (N=200; US samples) by asking participants to observe a partner make two trade-offs, and then predict the partner's decisions in other trials. Their predictions were compared to those of a model that uses statistically optimal procedures, operationalized as a Bayesian ideal observer. As predicted, (i) the estimates people made from sparse evidence matched those of the ideal observer, and (ii) lower welfare trade-offs elicited more anger from participants, even when their total payoffs were held constant. These results support the view that people efficiently update their representations of how much others value them. They also provide the most direct test to date of a key assumption of the recalibrational theory of anger: that anger is triggered by cues of low valuation, not by the infliction of costs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tadeg Quillien
- Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States of America; Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States of America.
| | - John Tooby
- Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States of America; Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States of America
| | - Leda Cosmides
- Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States of America; Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States of America
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6
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Zhang J. A neurocomputational variable on welfare tradeoffs explains the function and form of cyberaggression. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 17:1034564. [PMID: 37576935 PMCID: PMC10412873 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1034564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2022] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/15/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jinguang Zhang
- School of Journalism and Communication, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Center for Big Data and Public Communication, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
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Leroux A, Hétu S, Sznycer D. The Shame System Operates With High Precision. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 21:14747049231203394. [PMID: 37770021 PMCID: PMC10540588 DOI: 10.1177/14747049231203394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Revised: 09/09/2023] [Accepted: 09/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous research indicates that the anticipatory shame an individual feels at the prospect of taking a disgraceful action closely tracks the degree to which local audiences, and even foreign audiences, devalue those individuals who take that action. This supports the proposition that the shame system (a) defends the individual against the threat of being devalued, and (b) balances the competing demands of operating effectively yet efficiently. The stimuli events used in previous research were highly variable in their perceived disgracefulness, ranging in rated shame and audience devaluation from low (e.g., missing the target in a throwing game) to high (e.g., being discovered cheating on one's spouse). But how precise is the tracking of audience devaluation by the shame system? Would shame track devaluation for events that are similarly low (or high) in disgracefulness? To answer this question, we conducted a study with participants from the United States and India. Participants were assigned, between-subjects, to one of two conditions: shame or audience devaluation. Within-subjects, participants rated three low-variation sets of 25 scenarios each, adapted from Mu, Kitayama, Han, & Gelfand (2015), which convey (a) appropriateness (e.g., yelling at a rock concert), (b) mild disgracefulness (e.g., yelling on the metro), and (c) disgracefulness (e.g., yelling in the library), all presented un-blocked, in random order. Consistent with previous research, shame tracked audience devaluation across the high-variation superset of 75 scenarios, both within and between cultures. Critically, shame tracked devaluation also within each of the three sets. The shame system operates with high precision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexie Leroux
- Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Sébastien Hétu
- Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Daniel Sznycer
- Oklahoma Center for Evolutionary Analysis, Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
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8
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Balliet D, Lindström B. Inferences about interdependence shape cooperation. Trends Cogn Sci 2023; 27:583-595. [PMID: 37055313 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2022] [Revised: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/15/2023]
Abstract
During social interactions in daily life, people possess imperfect knowledge of their interdependence (i.e., how behaviors affect each person's outcomes), and what people infer about their interdependence can shape their behaviors. We review theory and research that suggests people can infer their interdependence with others along several dimensions, including mutual dependence, power, and corresponding-versus-conflicting interests. We discuss how perceptions of interdependence affect how people cooperate and punish others' defection in everyday life. We propose that people understand their interdependence with others through knowledge of the action space, cues during social interactions (e.g., partner behaviors), and priors based on experience. Finally, we describe how learning interdependence could occur through domain-specific and domain-general mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Balliet
- Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Institute for Brain and Behaviour Amsterdam (IBBA), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1081BT, The Netherlands.
| | - Björn Lindström
- Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Institute for Brain and Behaviour Amsterdam (IBBA), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1081BT, The Netherlands
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Holbrook C, Fessler DMT, Sparks AM, Johnson DL, Samore T, Reed LI. Coalitionality shapes moral elevation: evidence from the U.S. Black Lives Matter protest and counter-protest movements. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:220990. [PMID: 36998761 PMCID: PMC10049748 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Witnessing altruistic behaviour can elicit moral elevation, an emotion that motivates prosocial cooperation. This emotion is evoked more strongly when the observer anticipates that other people will be reciprocally cooperative. Coalitionality should therefore moderate feelings of elevation, as whether the observer shares the coalitional affiliation of those observed should influence the observer's assessment of the likelihood that the latter will cooperate with the observer. We examined this thesis in studies contemporaneous with the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests. Although BLM protests were predominantly peaceful, they were depicted by conservative media as destructive and antisocial. In two large-scale, pre-registered online studies (total N = 2172), political orientation strongly moderated feelings of state elevation elicited by a video of a peaceful BLM protest (Studies 1 and 2) or a peaceful Back the Blue (BtB) counter-protest (Study 2). Political conservatism predicted less elevation following the BLM video and more elevation following the BtB video. Elevation elicited by the BLM video correlated with preferences to defund police, whereas elevation elicited by the BtB video correlated with preferences to increase police funding. These findings extend prior work on elevation into the area of prosocial cooperation in the context of coalitional conflict.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin Holbrook
- Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, CA 95343, USA
| | - Daniel M. T. Fessler
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Kindness Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | | | - Devin L. Johnson
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, ON, Canada L8S4K1
| | - Theodore Samore
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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Delton AW, Jaeggi AV, Lim J, Sznycer D, Gurven M, Robertson TE, Sugiyama LS, Cosmides L, Tooby J. Cognitive foundations for helping and harming others: Making welfare tradeoffs in industrialized and small-scale societies. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2023.01.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/12/2023]
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11
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Quillien T. Rational information search in welfare-tradeoff cognition. Cognition 2023; 231:105317. [PMID: 36434941 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2022] [Revised: 08/23/2022] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
One of the most important dimensions along which we evaluate others is their propensity to value our welfare: we like people who are disposed to incur costs for our benefit and who refrain from imposing costs on us to benefit themselves. The evolutionary importance of social valuation in our species suggests that humans have cognitive mechanisms that are able to efficiently extract information about how much another person values them. Here I test the hypothesis that people are spontaneously interested in the kinds of events that have the most potential to reveal such information. In two studies, I presented participants (Ns = 216; 300) with pairs of dilemmas that another individual faced in an economic game; for each pair, I asked them to choose the dilemma for which they would most like to see the decision that the individual had made. On average, people spontaneously selected the choices that had the potential to reveal the most information about the individual's valuation of the participant, as quantified by a Bayesian ideal search model. This finding suggests that human cooperation is supported by sophisticated cognitive mechanisms for information-gathering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tadeg Quillien
- School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
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12
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Krems JA, Hahnel-Peeters RK, Merrie LA, Williams KE, Sznycer D. Sometimes we want vicious friends: People have nuanced preferences for how they want their friends to behave toward them versus others. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2023.02.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
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13
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Societal institutions echo evolved human nature: An analysis of the Western criminal justice system and its relation to anger. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2023.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
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14
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Sznycer D, Sell A, Williams KE. Justice-making institutions and the ancestral logic of conflict. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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15
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Indirect Intergroup Bargaining: An Evolutionary Psychological Theory of Microaggression. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s40806-022-00338-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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16
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Landers M, Sznycer D. The evolution of shame and its display. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2022; 4:e45. [PMID: 37588893 PMCID: PMC10426012 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2022.43] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Revised: 09/09/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
The shame system appears to be natural selection's solution to the adaptive problem of information-triggered reputational damage. Over evolutionary time, this problem would have led to a coordinated set of adaptations - the shame system - designed to minimise the spread of negative information about the self and the likelihood and costs of being socially devalued by others. This information threat theory of shame can account for much of what we know about shame and generate precise predictions. Here, we analyse the behavioural configuration that people adopt stereotypically when ashamed - slumped posture, downward head tilt, gaze avoidance, inhibition of speech - in light of shame's hypothesised function. This behavioural configuration may have differentially favoured its own replication by (a) hampering the transfer of information (e.g. diminishing audiences' tendency to attend to or encode identifying information - shame camouflage) and/or (b) evoking less severe devaluative responses from audiences (shame display). The shame display hypothesis has received considerable attention and empirical support, whereas the shame camouflage hypothesis has to our knowledge not been advanced or tested. We elaborate on this hypothesis and suggest directions for future research on the shame pose.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mitchell Landers
- Center for Early Childhood Research, Department of Psychology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Daniel Sznycer
- Oklahoma Center for Evolutionary Analysis, Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
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17
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Triadic conflict "primitives" can be reduced to welfare trade-off ratios. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 45:e117. [PMID: 35796379 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x21001382] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Pietraszewski proposes four triadic "primitives" for representing social groups. We argue that, despite surface differences, these triads can all be reduced to similar underlying welfare trade-off ratios, which are a better candidate for social group primitives. Welfare trade-off ratios also have limitations, however, and we suggest there are multiple computational strategies by which people recognize and reason about social groups.
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Eisenbruch AB, Krasnow MM. Why Warmth Matters More Than Competence: A New Evolutionary Approach. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2022; 17:1604-1623. [PMID: 35748187 DOI: 10.1177/17456916211071087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Multiple lines of evidence suggest that there are two major dimensions of social perception, often called warmth and competence, and that warmth is prioritized over competence in multiple types of social decision-making. Existing explanations for this prioritization argue that warmth is more consequential for an observer's welfare than is competence. We present a new explanation for the prioritization of warmth based on humans' evolutionary history of cooperative partner choice. We argue that the prioritization of warmth evolved because ancestral humans faced greater variance in the warmth of potential cooperative partners than in their competence but greater variance in competence over time within cooperative relationships. These each made warmth more predictive than competence of the future benefits of a relationship, but because of differences in the distributions of these traits, not because of differences in their intrinsic consequentiality. A broad, synthetic review of the anthropological literature suggests that these conditions were characteristic of the ecologies in which human social cognition evolved, and agent-based models demonstrate the plausibility of these selection pressures. We conclude with future directions for the study of preferences and the further integration of social and evolutionary psychology.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Max M Krasnow
- Division of Continuing Education, Harvard University
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19
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When does moral engagement risk triggering a hypocrisy penalty? Curr Opin Psychol 2022; 47:101404. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2022] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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21
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White CJ, Schaller M, Abraham EG, Rottman J. Navigating between punishment, avoidance, and instruction: The form and function of responses to moral violations varies across adult and child transgressors. Cognition 2022; 223:105048. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2021] [Revised: 01/22/2022] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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22
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Powell LJ. Adopted Utility Calculus: Origins of a Concept of Social Affiliation. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2022; 17:1215-1233. [PMID: 35549492 DOI: 10.1177/17456916211048487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
To successfully navigate their social world, humans need to understand and map enduring relationships between people: Humans need a concept of social affiliation. Here I propose that the initial concept of social affiliation, available in infancy, is based on the extent to which one individual consistently takes on the goals and needs of another. This proposal grounds affiliation in intuitive psychology, as formalized in the naive-utility-calculus model. A concept of affiliation based on interpersonal utility adoption can account for findings from studies of infants' reasoning about imitation, similarity, helpful and fair individuals, "ritual" behaviors, and social groups without the need for additional innate mechanisms such as a coalitional psychology, moral sense, or general preference for similar others. I identify further tests of this proposal and also discuss how it is likely to be relevant to social reasoning and learning across the life span.
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Wu J, Számadó S, Barclay P, Beersma B, Dores Cruz TD, Iacono SL, Nieper AS, Peters K, Przepiorka W, Tiokhin L, Van Lange PAM. Honesty and dishonesty in gossip strategies: a fitness interdependence analysis. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200300. [PMID: 34601905 PMCID: PMC8487735 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Gossip, or sharing information about absent others, has been identified as an effective solution to free rider problems in situations with conflicting interests. Yet, the information transmitted via gossip can be biased, because gossipers may send dishonest information about others for personal gains. Such dishonest gossip makes reputation-based cooperation more difficult to evolve. But when are people likely to share honest or dishonest gossip? We build formal models to provide the theoretical foundation for individuals' gossip strategies, taking into account the gossiper's fitness interdependence with the receiver and the target. Our models across four different games suggest a very simple rule: when there is a perfect match (mismatch) between fitness interdependence and the effect of honest gossip, the gossiper should always be honest (dishonest); however, in the case of a partial match, the gossiper should make a choice based on their fitness interdependence with the receiver and the target and the marginal cost/benefit in terms of pay-off differences caused by possible choices of the receiver and the target in the game. Moreover, gossipers can use this simple rule to make optimal decisions even under noise. We discuss empirical examples that support the predictions of our model and potential extensions. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junhui Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
| | - Szabolcs Számadó
- Department of Sociology and Communication, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary.,CSS-RECENS, Centre for Social Sciences, H-1097 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Pat Barclay
- Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Bianca Beersma
- Department of Organization Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Terence D Dores Cruz
- Department of Organization Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Sergio Lo Iacono
- Department of Sociology/ICS, Utrecht University, 3584CS Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Annika S Nieper
- Department of Organization Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Kim Peters
- University of Exeter Business School, Exeter EX4 4PU, UK
| | - Wojtek Przepiorka
- Department of Sociology/ICS, Utrecht University, 3584CS Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Leo Tiokhin
- Human Technology Interaction Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Paul A M Van Lange
- Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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24
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Barclay P, Bliege Bird R, Roberts G, Számadó S. Cooperating to show that you care: costly helping as an honest signal of fitness interdependence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200292. [PMID: 34601912 PMCID: PMC8487747 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Social organisms often need to know how much to trust others to cooperate. Organisms can expect cooperation from another organism that depends on them (i.e. stake or fitness interdependence), but how do individuals assess fitness interdependence? Here, we extend fitness interdependence into a signalling context: costly helping behaviour can honestly signal one's stake in others, such that those who help are trusted more. We present a mathematical model in which agents help others based on their stake in the recipient's welfare, and recipients use that information to assess whom to trust. At equilibrium, helping is a costly signal of stake: helping is worthwhile for those who value the recipient (and thus will repay any trust), but is not worthwhile for those who do not value the recipient (and thus will betray the trust). Recipients demand signals when they value the signallers less and when the cost of betrayed trust is higher; signal costs are higher when signallers have more incentive to defect. Signalling systems are more likely when the trust games resemble Prisoner's Dilemmas, Stag Hunts or Harmony Games, and are less likely in Snowdrift Games. Furthermore, we find that honest signals need not benefit recipients and can even occur between hostile parties. By signalling their interdependence, organisms benefit from increased trust, even when no future interactions will occur. This article is part of the theme issue 'The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pat Barclay
- Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road E., Guelph, ON, Canada, N1G 2W1
| | | | - Gilbert Roberts
- Independent Researcher, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary
| | - Szabolcs Számadó
- Department of Sociology and Communication, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary.,Center for Social Sciences, Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH), Hungary
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25
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Molho C, Wu J. Direct punishment and indirect reputation-based tactics to intervene against offences. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200289. [PMID: 34601906 PMCID: PMC8487740 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Punishment and reputation-based mechanisms play a major role in supporting the evolution of human cooperation. Theoretical accounts and field observations suggest that humans use multiple tactics to intervene against offences-including confrontation, gossip and ostracism-which have unique benefits and costs. Here, we draw a distinction between direct punishment tactics (i.e. physical and verbal confrontation) and indirect reputation-based tactics (i.e. gossip and ostracism). Based on this distinction, we sketch the common and unique social functions that different tactics are tailored to serve and describe information-processing mechanisms that potentially underlie decisions concerning how to intervene against offences. We propose that decision rules guiding direct and indirect tactics should weigh information about the benefits of changing others' behaviour versus the costs of potential retaliation. Based on a synthesis of existing evidence, we highlight the role of situational, relational and emotional factors in motivating distinct punishment tactics. We suggest that delineating between direct and indirect tactics can inform debates about the prevalence and functions of punishment and the reputational consequences of third-party intervention against offences. We emphasize the need to study how people use reputation-based tactics for partner recalibration and partner choice, within interdependent relationships and social networks, and in daily life situations. This article is part of the theme issue 'The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Molho
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Université Toulouse 1 Capitole, Toulouse, France
- Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making (CREED), University of Amsterdam, Roetersstraat 11, 1001 NJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Junhui Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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26
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Lieberman D, Billingsley J. Kinship versus closeness: A commentary on and. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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27
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Parker G, Durante KM, Hill SE, Haselton MG. Why women choose divorce: An evolutionary perspective. Curr Opin Psychol 2021; 43:300-306. [PMID: 34509971 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.07.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2021] [Revised: 07/24/2021] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
In Western dual-educated, male-female marriages, women who divorce face greater burdens because of decreased income and primary or sole responsibility for caring for children than men who divorce. Why, then, do these women initiate divorce more and fare better psychologically after a divorce than men? Here, we articulate an evolutionary mismatch perspective, informed by key findings in relationship science. We argue that mismatches between women's evolved preferences and configurations of modern marriage often clash, producing dissatisfaction. Women's unprecedented career ascendance also affords women ever more freedom to leave. We discuss pressures from social expectations for men and women that contribute to or compound these vulnerabilities. We conclude with key questions for future research, which can contribute to strategies for mitigating relationship dissatisfaction and the profound loss and pain that results from divorce.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gillian Parker
- University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Communication, 2225 Rolfe Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Kristina M Durante
- Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick, 1 Washington Park, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA
| | - Sarah E Hill
- Texas Christian University, Department of Psychology, Winton Scott Hall Suite 246, 29955S University Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76109, USA
| | - Martie G Haselton
- University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Communication, 2225 Rolfe Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA; University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, 502 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
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28
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Raihani NJ, Power EA. No good deed goes unpunished: the social costs of prosocial behaviour. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2021; 3:e40. [PMID: 37588551 PMCID: PMC10427331 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2021.35] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Performing costly helpful behaviours can allow individuals to improve their reputation. Those who gain a good reputation are often preferred as interaction partners and are consequently better able to access support through cooperative relationships with others. However, investing in prosocial displays can sometimes yield social costs: excessively generous individuals risk losing their good reputation, and even being vilified, ostracised or antisocially punished. As a consequence, people frequently try to downplay their prosocial actions or hide them from others. In this review, we explore when and why investments in prosocial behaviour are likely to yield social costs. We propose two key features of interactions that make it more likely that generous individuals will incur social costs when: (a) observers infer that helpful behaviour is motivated by strategic or selfish motives; and (b) observers infer that helpful behaviour is detrimental to them. We describe how the cognition required to consider ulterior motives emerges over development and how these tendencies vary across cultures - and discuss how the potential for helpful actions to result in social costs might place boundaries on prosocial behaviour as well as limiting the contexts in which it might occur. We end by outlining the key avenues and priorities for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nichola J Raihani
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, UK
| | - Eleanor A Power
- Department of Methodology, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK
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29
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Forster DE, Billingsley J, Burnette JL, Lieberman D, Ohtsubo Y, McCullough ME. Experimental evidence that apologies promote forgiveness by communicating relationship value. Sci Rep 2021; 11:13107. [PMID: 34162912 PMCID: PMC8222305 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-92373-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Robust evidence supports the importance of apologies for promoting forgiveness. Yet less is known about how apologies exert their effects. Here, we focus on their potential to promote forgiveness by way of increasing perceptions of relationship value. We used a method for directly testing these causal claims by manipulating both the independent variable and the proposed mediator. Namely, we use a 2 (Apology: yes vs. no) × 2 (Value: high vs. low) concurrent double-randomization design to test whether apologies cause forgiveness by affecting the same causal pathway as relationship value. In addition to supporting this causal claim, we also find that apologies had weaker effects on forgiveness when received from high-value transgressors, suggesting that the forgiveness-relevant information provided by apologies is redundant with relationship value. Taken together, these findings from a rigorous methodological paradigm help us parse out how apologies promote relationship repair.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E Forster
- U.S. Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA
- University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
| | - Joseph Billingsley
- University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
- North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | | | | | - Yohsuke Ohtsubo
- Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
- University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Michael E McCullough
- University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA.
- University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
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30
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Hall J, Kahn DT, Skoog E, Öberg M. War exposure, altruism and the recalibration of welfare tradeoffs towards threatening social categories. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2021.104101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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31
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Tybur JM, Lieberman D, Fan L, Kupfer TR, de Vries RE. Behavioral Immune Trade-Offs: Interpersonal Value Relaxes Social Pathogen Avoidance. Psychol Sci 2020; 31:1211-1221. [PMID: 32942965 PMCID: PMC7502680 DOI: 10.1177/0956797620960011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2020] [Accepted: 08/24/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Behavioral-immune-system research has illuminated how people detect and avoid signs of infectious disease. But how do we regulate exposure to pathogens that produce no symptoms in their hosts? This research tested the proposition that estimates of interpersonal value are used for this task. The results of three studies (N = 1,694), each conducted using U.S. samples, are consistent with this proposition: People are less averse to engaging in infection-risky acts not only with friends relative to foes but also with honest and agreeable strangers relative to dishonest and disagreeable ones. Further, a continuous measure of how much a person values a target covaries with comfort with infection-risky acts with that target, even within relationship categories. Findings indicate that social prophylactic motivations arise not only from cues to infectiousness but also from interpersonal value. Consequently, pathogen transmission within social networks might be exacerbated by relaxed contamination aversions with highly valued social partners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua M. Tybur
- Department of Experimental and
Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Institute of Brain and Behavior
Amsterdam
| | | | - Lei Fan
- Department of Experimental and
Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Institute of Brain and Behavior
Amsterdam
| | - Tom R. Kupfer
- Department of Experimental and
Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
| | - Reinout E. de Vries
- Department of Experimental and
Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Institute of Brain and Behavior
Amsterdam
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32
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Pisor AC, Gervais MM, Purzycki BG, Ross CT. Preferences and constraints: the value of economic games for studying human behaviour. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:192090. [PMID: 32742683 PMCID: PMC7353969 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.192090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2019] [Accepted: 05/05/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
As economic games have spread from experimental economics to other social sciences, so too have critiques of their usefulness for drawing inferences about the 'real world'. What these criticisms often miss is that games can be used to reveal individuals' private preferences in ways that observational and interview data cannot; furthermore, economic games can be designed such that they do provide insights into real-world behaviour. Here, we draw on our collective experience using economic games in field contexts to illustrate how researchers can strategically alter the framing or design of economic games to draw inferences about private-world or real-world preferences. A detailed case study from coastal Colombia provides an example of the subtleties of game design and how games can be combined fruitfully with self-report data. We close with a list of concrete recommendations for how to modify economic games to better match particular research questions and research contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne C. Pisor
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4910, USA
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 LeipzigGermany
| | | | - Benjamin G. Purzycki
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 LeipzigGermany
- Department of the Study of Religion, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Cody T. Ross
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 LeipzigGermany
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33
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LMX and welfare trade-off ratios: An evolutionary perspective on leader-member relations. THE LEADERSHIP QUARTERLY 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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34
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McDermott R. Leadership and the strategic emotional manipulation of political identity: An evolutionary perspective. THE LEADERSHIP QUARTERLY 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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35
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Claessens S, Fischer K, Chaudhuri A, Sibley CG, Atkinson QD. The dual evolutionary foundations of political ideology. Nat Hum Behav 2020; 4:336-345. [PMID: 32231279 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-0850-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2019] [Accepted: 03/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Research over the last fifty years has suggested that political attitudes and values around the globe are shaped by two ideological dimensions, often referred to as economic and social conservatism. However, it remains unclear why this ideological structure exists. Here we highlight the striking concordance between these dual dimensions of ideology and independent convergent evidence for two key shifts in the evolution of human group living. First, humans began to cooperate more and across wider interdependent networks. Second, humans became more group-minded, conforming to social norms in culturally marked groups and punishing norm-violators. We propose that fitness trade-offs and behavioural plasticity have maintained functional variation in willingness to cooperate and conform within modern human groups, naturally giving rise to the two dimensions of political ideology. Supported by evidence from across the behavioural sciences, this evolutionary framework provides insight into the biological and cultural basis of political ideology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott Claessens
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Kyle Fischer
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Ananish Chaudhuri
- Department of Economics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,CESifo, Munich, Germany
| | - Chris G Sibley
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Quentin D Atkinson
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. .,Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
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36
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37
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Effects of others’ reference points and psychological distance on self-other welfare tradeoff in gain and loss situations. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA SINICA 2020. [DOI: 10.3724/sp.j.1041.2020.00633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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38
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The importance of being honest? Evidence that deception may not pollute social science subject pools after all. Behav Res Methods 2019; 52:1175-1188. [DOI: 10.3758/s13428-019-01309-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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39
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Hall J, Kahn DT. Exposure to Wartime Trauma Decreases Positive Emotions and Altruism Toward Rival Out-Groups (But Not Nonrival Out-Groups): A Survey Experiment in a Field Setting Among Syrian Refugees. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE 2019. [DOI: 10.1177/1948550619876631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
A survey experiment, carried out in a field setting among Sunni Arab Syrian refugees ( N = 2,479), examined the effect of exposure to wartime trauma, ethnoreligious group affiliation, and degree of hostility of intergroup relations on altruism and positive emotional regard. The results showed that in-group targets were met with more positive emotional regard and altruism than relatively neutral out-group targets, which in turn were met with more positive emotional regard and altruism than individuals from a hostile out-group. These tendencies were elevated among participants with a high degree of exposure to wartime trauma. Emotions mediated the effect of ethnoreligious group affiliation on altruism, and this mediating effect was moderated by exposure to wartime trauma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Hall
- Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, Sweden
| | - Dennis T. Kahn
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel
- Department of Psychology, Lund University, Sweden
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40
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Why Be Generous? Tests of the Partner Choice and Threat Premium Models of Resource Division. ADAPTIVE HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s40750-019-00117-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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41
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42
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Liberman Z, Shaw A. Children use similarity, propinquity, and loyalty to predict which people are friends. J Exp Child Psychol 2019; 184:1-17. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2018] [Revised: 03/06/2019] [Accepted: 03/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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43
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Sznycer D, Lukaszewski AW. The emotion–valuation constellation: Multiple emotions are governed by a common grammar of social valuation. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2019.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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44
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45
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Tiokhin L, Hackman J, Munira S, Jesmin K, Hruschka D. Generalizability is not optional: insights from a cross-cultural study of social discounting. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2019; 6:181386. [PMID: 30891268 PMCID: PMC6408392 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.181386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2018] [Accepted: 02/05/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Current scientific reforms focus more on solutions to the problem of reliability (e.g. direct replications) than generalizability. Here, we use a cross-cultural study of social discounting to illustrate the utility of a complementary focus on generalizability across diverse human populations. Social discounting is the tendency to sacrifice more for socially close individuals-a phenomenon replicated across countries and laboratories. Yet, when adapting a typical protocol to low-literacy, resource-scarce settings in Bangladesh and Indonesia, we find no independent effect of social distance on generosity, despite still documenting this effect among US participants. Several reliability and validity checks suggest that methodological issues alone cannot explain this finding. These results illustrate why we must complement replication efforts with investment in strong checks on generalizability. By failing to do so, we risk developing theories of human nature that reliably explain behaviour among only a thin slice of humanity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonid Tiokhin
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- Human Technology Interaction Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, IPO 1.24, PO Box 513, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Joseph Hackman
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Shirajum Munira
- LAMB Project for Integrated Health and Development, Parbatipur 5250, Bangladesh
| | - Khaleda Jesmin
- LAMB Project for Integrated Health and Development, Parbatipur 5250, Bangladesh
| | - Daniel Hruschka
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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46
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Sznycer D, Delton AW, Robertson TE, Cosmides L, Tooby J. The ecological rationality of helping others: Potential helpers integrate cues of recipients' need and willingness to sacrifice. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
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47
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Barakzai A, Shaw A. Friends without benefits: When we react negatively to helpful and generous friends. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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48
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Spokes AC, Spelke ES. At 4.5 but not 5.5 years, children favor kin when the stakes are moderately high. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0202507. [PMID: 30114290 PMCID: PMC6095549 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2017] [Accepted: 08/03/2018] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Adults report more willingness to help siblings over close friends when the stakes are extremely high, such as when deciding whether to donate a kidney or risk injury to rescue someone in peril. When dividing plentiful, low-value resources, in contrast, children expect people to share equally with friends and siblings. Even when distributing limited resources-one instead of many-and distributing to their own social partners rather than fictional characters, children share more with kin and friends than with strangers but do not favor kin over friends until 5.5 years of age. However, no study has tested whether children would preferentially benefit kin if the rewards require that children incur a higher personal cost of their own time and effort. In the present experiment, therefore, we asked if children would work harder for kin over non-kin when playing a challenging geometry game that allowed them to earn rewards for others. We found that 4.5-year-old children calibrated their time and effort in the game differently according to who received the rewards-they played for more trials and answered more trials correctly for kin over non-kin, but 5.5-year-old children did not. The older children may have found the task easier and less costly or may have different social experiences affecting their efforts to benefit others. Nonetheless, 4.5-year-old children's social decisions favored kin as recipients of their generosity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annie C. Spokes
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Elizabeth S. Spelke
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
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49
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Peters BJ, Reis HT, Gable SL. Making the good even better: A review and theoretical model of interpersonal capitalization. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
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50
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Liu S, Gonzalez G, Warneken F. Worth the wait: Children trade off delay and reward in self‐ and other‐benefiting decisions. Dev Sci 2018; 22:e12702. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.12702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2017] [Accepted: 05/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Shari Liu
- Department of Psychology Harvard University Cambridge Massachusetts
| | - Gorana Gonzalez
- Department of Psychology Boston College Boston Massachusetts
| | - Felix Warneken
- Department of Psychology University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan
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