1
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Grimalda G, Murtin F, Pipke D, Putterman L, Sutter M. The politicized pandemic: Ideological polarization and the behavioral response to COVID-19. EUROPEAN ECONOMIC REVIEW 2023; 156:104472. [PMID: 37234383 PMCID: PMC10174729 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2023.104472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Revised: 04/12/2023] [Accepted: 04/28/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
In a representative sample of the U.S. population during the first summer of the COVID-19 pandemic, we investigate how prosociality and ideology interact in their relationship with health-protecting behavior and trust in the government to handle the crisis. We find that an experimental measure of prosociality based on standard economic games positively relates to protective behavior. Conservatives are less compliant with COVID-19-related behavioral restrictions than liberals and evaluate the government's handling of the crisis significantly more positively. We show that prosociality does not mediate the impact of political ideology. This finding means that conservatives are less compliant with protective health guidelines - independent of differences in prosociality between both ideological camps. Behavioral differences between liberals and conservatives are roughly only one-fourth of the size of their differences in judging the government's crisis management. This result suggests that Americans were more polarized in their political views than in their acceptance of public health advice.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - David Pipke
- Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany
| | | | - Matthias Sutter
- Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, University of Cologne, University of Innsbruck, and IZA, Austria
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2
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Hoenig LC, Pliskin R, De Dreu CKW. Political ideology and moral dilemmas in public good provision. Sci Rep 2023; 13:2519. [PMID: 36781991 PMCID: PMC9925786 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-29512-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals often face dilemmas in which non-cooperation serves their self-interest and cooperation favors society at large. Cooperation is often considered the moral choice because it creates equality and fairness among citizens. Accordingly, individuals whose political ideology attaches greater value to equality than to agency and self-reliance should not only cooperate on more rather than less efficient public goods, but also more on public goods from which individuals benefit equally rather than unequally. We examine this possibility by comparing ideologically left-leaning and right-leaning individuals' cooperation on multiple public goods that varied in efficiency and (in)equality in returns. We find that left-leaning individuals cooperate more than right-leaning ones, but only on public goods that benefit everyone equally, and not more on public goods that generate inequalities. Left-leaning individuals also trust and expect others to cooperate more on equal- versus unequal-returns public goods, while self-identified right-leaning individuals do not differentiate between these. Interestingly, ideology does not predict which public good is deemed more morally appropriate to cooperate on. Results combined specify when and why self-identified leftists can(not) be expected to cooperate more than rightists and reveal how moral decision-making depends on structural elements of the public good provision problems that citizens face.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura C Hoenig
- Department of Social, Economic, and Organisational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
| | - Ruthie Pliskin
- Department of Social, Economic, and Organisational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Carsten K W De Dreu
- Department of Social, Economic, and Organisational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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3
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Claessens S, Kyritsis T. Partner choice does not predict prosociality across countries. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2022; 4:e54. [PMID: 37588938 PMCID: PMC10426035 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2022.51] [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: 04/26/2022] [Revised: 11/06/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Why does human prosociality vary around the world? Evolutionary models and laboratory experiments suggest that possibilities for partner choice (i.e. the ability to leave unprofitable relationships and strike up new ones) should promote cooperation across human societies. Leveraging the Global Preferences Survey (n = 27,125; 27 countries) and the World Values Survey (n = 54,728; 32 countries), we test this theory by estimating the associations between relational mobility, a socioecological measure of partner choice, and a wide variety of prosocial attitudes and behaviours, including impersonal altruism, reciprocity, trust, collective action and moral judgements of antisocial behaviour. Contrary to our pre-registered predictions, we found little evidence that partner choice is related to prosociality across countries. After controlling for shared causes of relational mobility and prosociality - environmental harshness, subsistence style and geographic and linguistic proximity - we found that only altruism and trust in people from another religion are positively related to relational mobility. We did not find positive relationships between relational mobility and reciprocity, generalised trust, collective action or moral judgements. These findings challenge evolutionary theories of human cooperation which emphasise partner choice as a key explanatory mechanism, and highlight the need to generalise models and experiments to global samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott Claessens
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Thanos Kyritsis
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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4
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De Dreu CKW, Triki Z. Intergroup conflict: origins, dynamics and consequences across taxa. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210134. [PMID: 35369751 PMCID: PMC8977662 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Although uniquely destructive and wasteful, intergroup conflict and warfare are not confined to humans. They are seen across a range of group-living species, from social insects, fishes and birds to mammals, including nonhuman primates. With its unique collection of theory, research and review contributions from biology, anthropology and economics, this theme issue provides novel insights into intergroup conflict across taxa. Here, we introduce and organize this theme issue on the origins and consequences of intergroup conflict. We provide a coherent framework by modelling intergroup conflicts as multi-level games of strategy in which individuals within groups cooperate to compete with (individuals in) other groups for scarce resources, such as territory, food, mating opportunities, power and influence. Within this framework, we identify cross-species mechanisms and consequences of (participating in) intergroup conflict. We conclude by highlighting crosscutting innovations in the study of intergroup conflict set forth by individual contributions. These include, among others, insights on how within-group heterogeneities and leadership relate to group conflict, how intergroup conflict shapes social organization and how climate change and environmental degradation transition intergroup relations from peaceful coexistence to violent conflict. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Intergroup conflict across taxa’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carsten K W De Dreu
- Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.,Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Zegni Triki
- Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
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5
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Dorrough AR, Froehlich L, Eriksson K. Cooperation in the cross-national context. Curr Opin Psychol 2021; 44:281-285. [PMID: 34801845 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2021] [Revised: 10/11/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
In this article, we outline the current state of research concerning cooperation in the cross-national context. We present several theoretical approaches and empirical findings regarding national differences in cooperation, as well as how cooperation may depend on the national background of the interaction partner. In addition, we discuss the influence of (national) group norms, cultural similarity, and ingroup membership. This review concludes with a call for research on cooperation to include more non-WEIRD nations and more systematically cover national background as one important social category determining the willingness to cooperate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela Rachael Dorrough
- University of Cologne, Social Cognition Center, Richard-Strauss-Str. 2, 50931 Köln, Germany.
| | - Laura Froehlich
- FernUniversität in Hagen, Research Cluster D²L², Universitätsstr. 27, 58097 Hagen, Germany
| | - Kimmo Eriksson
- Institute for Futures Studies, Holländargatan 13, 111 36 Stockholm, Sweden; Mälardalen University, Högskoleplan 1, 722 20 Västerås, Sweden
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6
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Grimalda G, Buchan NR, Ozturk OD, Pinate AC, Urso G, Brewer MB. Exposure to COVID-19 is associated with increased altruism, particularly at the local level. Sci Rep 2021; 11:18950. [PMID: 34556687 PMCID: PMC8460816 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-97234-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Theory posits that situations of existential threat will enhance prosociality in general and particularly toward others perceived as belonging to the same group as the individual (parochial altruism). Yet, the global character of the COVID-19 pandemic may blur boundaries between ingroups and outgroups and engage altruism at a broader level. In an online experiment, participants from the U.S. and Italy chose whether to allocate a monetary bonus to a charity active in COVID-19 relief efforts at the local, national, or international level. The purpose was to address two important questions about charitable giving in this context: first, what influences the propensity to give, and second, how is charitable giving distributed across different levels of collective welfare? We found that personal exposure to COVID-19 increased donations relative to those not exposed, even as levels of environmental exposure (numbers of cases locally) had no effect. With respect to targets of giving, we found that donors predominantly benefitted the local level; donations toward country and world levels were half as large. Social identity was found to influence charity choice in both countries, although an experimental manipulation of identity salience did not have any direct effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gianluca Grimalda
- Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Kiellinie 66, 24105, Kiel, Germany.
| | - Nancy R Buchan
- Sonoco Department of International Business, University of South Carolina, 1014 College Street, Columbia, SC, 29205, USA
| | - Orgul D Ozturk
- Department of Economics, University of South Carolina, 1014 College Street, Columbia, SC, 29205, USA
| | - Adriana C Pinate
- Social Sciences, Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), 67100, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Giulia Urso
- Social Sciences, Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), 67100, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Marilynn B Brewer
- Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, 1835 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
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7
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Romano A, Sutter M, Liu JH, Yamagishi T, Balliet D. National parochialism is ubiquitous across 42 nations around the world. Nat Commun 2021; 12:4456. [PMID: 34294708 PMCID: PMC8298626 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24787-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2020] [Accepted: 07/08/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Cooperation within and across borders is of paramount importance for the provision of public goods. Parochialism - the tendency to cooperate more with ingroup than outgroup members - limits contributions to global public goods. National parochialism (i.e., greater cooperation among members of the same nation) could vary across nations and has been hypothesized to be associated with rule of law, exposure to world religions, relational mobility and pathogen stress. We conduct an experiment in participants from 42 nations (N = 18,411), and observe cooperation in a prisoner's dilemma with ingroup, outgroup, and unidentified partners. We observe that national parochialism is a ubiquitous phenomenon: it is present to a similar degree across the nations studied here, is independent of cultural distance, and occurs both when decisions are private or public. These findings inform existing theories of parochialism and suggest it may be an obstacle to the provision of global public goods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angelo Romano
- Experimental Economics Group, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany.
- Leiden University, Social, Economic and Organizational Psychology, Leiden, The Netherlands.
| | - Matthias Sutter
- Experimental Economics Group, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany
- Department of Economics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- Department of Public Finance, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - James H Liu
- School of Psychology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Toshio Yamagishi
- Graduate School of International Corporate Straegy, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Daniel Balliet
- Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Institute of Brain and Behavior (IBBA), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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8
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Rossetti CSL, Hilbe C, Hauser OP. (Mis)perceiving cooperativeness. Curr Opin Psychol 2021; 43:151-155. [PMID: 34392064 PMCID: PMC8896359 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.06.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Revised: 06/24/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Cooperation is crucial for the success of social interactions. Given its importance, humans should readily be able to use available cues to predict how likely others are to cooperate. Here, we review the empirical literature on how accurate such predictions are. To this end, we distinguish between three classes of cues: behavioral (including past decisions), personal (including gender, attractiveness, and group membership) and situational (including the benefits to cooperation and the ability to communicate with each other). We discuss (i) how each cue correlates with future cooperative decisions and (ii) whether people correctly anticipate each cue's predictive value. We find that people are fairly accurate in interpreting behavioral and situational cues. However, they often misperceive the value of personal cues.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Christian Hilbe
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany.
| | - Oliver P Hauser
- Department of Economics, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4PU, UK.
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9
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Lazić A, Purić D, Krstić K. Does parochial cooperation exist in childhood and adolescence? A meta-analysis. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2021; 56:917-933. [PMID: 34212370 DOI: 10.1002/ijop.12791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Although previous meta-analytic evidence supports the existence of parochialism in cooperation among adults, the extent to which children and adolescents are more willing to incur a personal cost to benefit ingroups, compared to outgroups, is not yet clear. We provide the first meta-analysis on the existence and magnitude of parochialism in cooperation among pre-adults. Based on 20 experimental economics studies (k = 69, N = 5268, age = 3-19, 12 countries, published 2008-2019), a multilevel meta-analytic model revealed a small overall effect size indicating that children and adolescents were more cooperative towards ingroups (d = 0.22, 95% CI [0.07, 0.38]). A series of single-moderator analyses tested for the following conditions: participant age and sex; game type ([mini-]dictator game, prisoner's dilemma, public goods dilemma, trust game, ultimatum game); outcome interdependence; membership manipulation (between- vs. within-subjects); group type (natural vs. experimental); reward type (monetary vs. non-monetary); and country of the participant. Parochial cooperation did not vary with participants' age. Parochialism was larger in non-interdependent (dictator-type) compared to interdependent (bargaining and social dilemma) games. There were no moderating effects of group type, membership manipulation or reward type. To provide more data on how parochialism develops, primary studies should report age ranges more precisely and use more restricted age groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksandra Lazić
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.,Laboratory for Research of Individual Differences, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Danka Purić
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.,Laboratory for Research of Individual Differences, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Ksenija Krstić
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.,Laboratory of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
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10
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Zmigrod L, Tsakiris M. Computational and neurocognitive approaches to the political brain: key insights and future avenues for political neuroscience. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200130. [PMID: 33611999 PMCID: PMC7935136 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Although the study of political behaviour has been traditionally restricted to the social sciences, new advances in political neuroscience and computational cognitive science highlight that the biological sciences can offer crucial insights into the roots of ideological thought and action. Echoing the dazzling diversity of human ideologies, this theme issue seeks to reflect the multiplicity of theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding the nature of the political brain. Cutting-edge research along three thematic strands is presented, including (i) computational approaches that zoom in on fine-grained mechanisms underlying political behaviour, (ii) neurocognitive perspectives that harness neuroimaging and psychophysiological techniques to study ideological processes, and (iii) behavioural studies and policy-minded analyses of such understandings across cultures and across ideological domains. Synthesizing these findings together, the issue elucidates core questions regarding the nature of uncertainty in political cognition, the mechanisms of social influence and the cognitive structure of ideological beliefs. This offers key directions for future biologically grounded research as well as a guiding map for citizens, psychologists and policymakers traversing the uneven landscape of modern polarization, misinformation, intolerance and dogmatism. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The political brain: neurocognitive and computational mechanisms'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leor Zmigrod
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Churchill College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Manos Tsakiris
- The Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, London, UK.,Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, UK.,Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
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11
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De Dreu CKW, Pliskin R, Rojek-Giffin M, Méder Z, Gross J. Political games of attack and defence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200135. [PMID: 33611990 PMCID: PMC7934902 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Political conflicts often revolve around changing versus defending a status quo. We propose to capture the dynamics between proponents and opponents of political change in terms of an asymmetric game of attack and defence with its equilibrium in mixed strategies. Formal analyses generate predictions about effort expended on revising and protecting the status quo, the form and function of false signalling and cheap talk, how power differences impact conflict intensity and the likelihood of status quo revision. Laboratory experiments on the neurocognitive and hormonal foundations of attack and defence reveal that out-of-equilibrium investments in attack emerge because of non-selfish preferences, limited capacity to compute costs and benefits and optimistic beliefs about the chances of winning from one's rival. We conclude with implications for the likelihood of political change and inertia, and discuss the role of ideology in political games of attack and defence. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The political brain: neurocognitive and computational mechanisms’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carsten K W De Dreu
- Social, Economic and Organizational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.,Center for Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ruthie Pliskin
- Social, Economic and Organizational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Michael Rojek-Giffin
- Social, Economic and Organizational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Zsombor Méder
- Social, Economic and Organizational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Jörg Gross
- Social, Economic and Organizational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
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