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Related Concept Videos

Egoism and Altruism01:55

Egoism and Altruism

Voluntary behavior with the intent to help other people is called prosocial behavior. Why do people help other people? Is personal benefit such as feeling good about oneself the only reason people help one another?
Counterfactual Thinking01:19

Counterfactual Thinking

Counterfactual thinking is a cognitive process wherein individuals mentally reconstruct alternative versions of past events, often beginning with “what if” or “if only.” This reflective mechanism plays a significant role in shaping emotional experiences and guiding future behavior. Though typically triggered by unfavorable or unexpected outcomes, counterfactual thinking can also emerge in mundane, everyday decisions and experiences, revealing its deep entrenchment in human cognition.Types of...
Reason and Intuition01:37

Reason and Intuition

The human brain processes information for decision-making using one of two routes: an intuitive system and a rational system (Epstein, 1994; popularized by Kahneman, 2011 as System 1 and System 2, respectively). The intuitive system is quick, impulsive, and operates with minimal effort, relying on emotions or habits to provide cues for what to do next, while the rational system is logical, analytical, deliberate, and methodical. Research in neuropsychology suggests that the brain can only use...
Attribution Theory00:56

Attribution Theory

Behavior is a product of both the situation (e.g., cultural influences, social roles, and the presence of bystanders) and of the person (e.g., personality characteristics). Subfields of psychology tend to focus on one influence or behavior over others. Situationism is the view that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings. In contrast, dispositionism holds that our behavior is determined by internal factors (Heider, 1958). An internal factor is an...
Empathy02:34

Empathy

Some researchers suggest that altruism operates on empathy. Empathy is the capacity to understand another person’s perspective, to feel what he or she feels. An empathetic person makes an emotional connection with others and feels compelled to help (Batson, 1991). Empathy can be expressed in several ways, including cognitive, affective, and motor.
Decision Making01:20

Decision Making

Decision-making is a fundamental cognitive process that involves evaluating alternatives and selecting among them. This process can range from simple choices, such as deciding what to wear, to complex decisions, like choosing a major in college or a career path. The complexity of the decision often dictates the approach we use, which can be broadly categorized into two types: automatic and controlled decision-making.
Automatic decision-making is fast, intuitive, and relies on gut feelings...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 17, 2026

The Adventures of Fundi Intervention Based on the Cognitive and Emotional Processing in Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Patients
05:48

The Adventures of Fundi Intervention Based on the Cognitive and Emotional Processing in Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Patients

Published on: June 12, 2020

Why be nice? Better not think about it.

Michael Tomasello1

  • 1Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany. tomas@eva.mpg.de

Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|October 31, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

People tend to cooperate initially when decisions are made quickly. However, given more time for reflection, individuals often become more selfish, indicating a shift from cooperation to self-interest.

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Economics
  • Social Psychology
  • Decision-Making Science

Background:

  • Understanding cooperative behavior is crucial for social cohesion and economic systems.
  • Previous research has explored factors influencing cooperation, but the specific role of time pressure remains debated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how time constraints affect cooperative decision-making.
  • To determine whether immediate impulses or deliberate reflection better predict cooperative behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Experimental studies involving participants making decisions in scenarios with varying time limits.
  • Analysis of cooperative choices under conditions of speed versus extended deliberation.

Main Results:

  • Participants exhibited higher levels of cooperation when required to act quickly.
  • Increased time for reflection led to a significant decrease in cooperative behavior, with individuals opting for more self-serving outcomes.

Conclusions:

  • Initial, rapid responses favor cooperation, suggesting an intuitive prosocial bias.
  • Deliberative processes can override initial cooperative impulses, leading to more self-interested behavior.