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Humans expect generosity.

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People expect generosity from others, not selfishness. Experiments show these expectations accurately reflect real-world cooperative behavior, suggesting expectations are key to social interactions.

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Area of Science:

  • Social Psychology
  • Behavioral Economics
  • Game Theory

Background:

  • Human ultra-cooperativeness mechanisms are debated.
  • Expectations of cooperative behavior are crucial for social interactions and institutionalizing cooperation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess people's expectations of generosity using controlled experiments.
  • To determine if these expectations align with observed behavior and contribute to cooperation.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the dictator game in a series of controlled experiments.
  • Varied factors such as roles, involvement, social distance, and stakes.

Main Results:

  • Subjects rarely predicted selfish behavior (Nash equilibrium).
  • A majority expected dictators to choose an equal split.
  • Expectations closely matched observed generous behavior.

Conclusions:

  • Generous behavior is both observed and expected in humans.
  • Expectations are accurate predictors of social behavior.
  • Expectations play a significant role in fostering generous and cooperative actions.