Related Experiment Videos
[Social exchange and inference: an experimental study with the Wason selection task].
1Department of Social Psychology, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033.
Shinrigaku Kenkyu : the Japanese Journal of Psychology
|August 10, 2001
Summary
The human mind may not need social contract theory to detect cheaters. A simple instruction to look for something, not social context, was sufficient in Wason selection task experiments.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Evolutionary Psychology
Context:
- Social contract theory proposes specialized cognitive faculties for cheater detection.
- Previous research utilized the Wason selection task to support this theory.
- Potential experimental artifacts in prior studies were not fully explored.
Purpose:
- To investigate if experimental artifacts, rather than social contract perception, explain Wason task results.
- To test the necessity of social exchange context in cheater detection tasks.
- To isolate the effect of specific instructions on task performance.
Summary:
- This study re-examined the Wason selection task without social exchange contexts.
- Participants received versions with abstract rules and a cassava root scenario, alongside a "look for something" instruction.
- Results mirrored previous findings, indicating the "look for something" cue was sufficient.
Impact:
- Challenges the necessity of social contract theory for explaining cheater detection in the Wason task.
- Suggests that task instructions can significantly influence cognitive responses.
- Highlights the importance of controlling for experimental artifacts in psychological research.