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Are social value orientations expressed automatically? Decision making in the dictator game
Gert Cornelissen1, Siegfried Dewitte, Luk Warlop
1Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. Gert.Cornelissen@upf.edu
Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|April 27, 2011
Summary
Social value orientations automatically influence behavior, especially in spontaneous decisions. Interpersonal closeness mediates this, but reasoning can override these automatic social value expressions.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- The social intuitionist model posits that social judgments arise from automatic intuitions.
- Understanding the automatic expression of social value orientations in behavior is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether social value orientations are automatically expressed in behavior.
- To examine the role of interpersonal closeness in mediating automatic social value expression.
- To explore how reasoning processes can override automatic responses.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the dictator game to compare spontaneous and deliberated decisions.
- Employed mediation and experimental analyses to test hypotheses.
- Assessed perceptions of interpersonal closeness and other-regarding behavior.
Main Results:
- Social values significantly determine behavior in spontaneous, automatic responses.
- Perceptions of interpersonal closeness mediate the automatic expression of social value orientations.
- Deliberative reasoning can override automatic responses, reducing other-regarding behavior, particularly in prosocial individuals.
Conclusions:
- Social value orientations are automatically expressed through behavior, influenced by interpersonal closeness.
- Reasoning processes can override automatic social behaviors, leading to less prosocial outcomes.
- Findings support the social intuitionist model's emphasis on automatic processes in social decision-making.
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