Journal
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-GENERAL
Volume 147, Issue 5, Pages 702-719Publisher
AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
DOI: 10.1037/xge0000399
Keywords
cooperation; emotion; reason; altruism; signaling
Categories
Funding
- Wharton Behavioral Lab
- William S. Fishman Faculty Research Fund at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We explore the signal value of emotion and reason in human cooperation. Across four experiments utilizing dyadic prisoner dilemma games, we establish three central results. First, individuals infer prosocial feelings and motivations from signals of emotion. As a result, individuals believe that a reliance on emotion signals that one will cooperate more so than a reliance on reason. Second, these beliefs are generally accurate-those who act based on emotion are more likely to cooperate than those who act based on reason. Third, individuals' behavioral responses towards signals of emotion and reason depend on their own decision mode: those who rely on emotion tend to conditionally cooperate (that is, cooperate only when they believe that their partner has cooperated), whereas those who rely on reason tend to defect regardless of their partner's signal. These findings shed light on how different decision processes, and lay theories about decision processes, facilitate and impede cooperation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available