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Published on: March 1, 2019
Contextualized self: when the self runs into social dilemmas
1Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, and Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, China. chjliu@synu.edu.cn
Summary
Independent self-construal leads to competitive behavior in low interdependence contexts. Interdependent self-construal consistently promotes cooperation, regardless of context. Understanding self-construal is key to predicting behavior.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
- Self-Construal Theory
Background:
- Individual self-construal influences cognition, emotion, and behavior.
- Mixed-motive situations create conflict between short-term individual and long-term collective interests.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how self-construal interacts with context interdependence to affect cooperative behavior.
- To extend self-construal research into mixed-motive situations.
Main Methods:
- Used a priming task to manipulate self-construal (independent vs. interdependent).
- Manipulated context interdependence by varying reward allocation (group vs. individual).
- Measured cooperative behavior in an investment game.
Main Results:
- Interdependent self-construal consistently led to high cooperation.
- Independent self-construal resulted in less cooperation, particularly in low interdependence contexts.
- Independent self-construal in low interdependence contexts yielded the most competitive behavior.
- Feelings about group interaction mediated the effect of context on cooperation.
Conclusions:
- Independent self-construal in low interdependence contexts promotes competitive behavior.
- The self is contextual and embedded within social systems.
- Understanding self-construal and context is crucial for predicting cooperative and competitive behavior.
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