Abstract
Although much work has recently been directed at understanding social decision-making, relatively little is known about how different types of feedback impact adaptive changes in social behavior. To address this issue quantitatively, we designed a novel associative learning task called the “Tipping Game,” in which participants had to learn a social norm of tipping in restaurants. Participants were found to make more generous decisions from feedback in the form of facial expressions, in comparison to feedback in the form of symbols such as ticks and crosses. Furthermore, more participants displayed learning in the condition where they received social feedback than participants in the non-social condition. Modeling results showed that the pattern of performance displayed by participants receiving social feedback could be explained by a lower sensitivity to economic costs.
Highlights
Several behavioral, neurobiological and theoretical studies have shown that social norm compliance, and more generally adaptive changes in social behavior, often require the effective use and weighing of different types of information, including expected economic costs and benefits, the potential impact of our behavior on the welfare of others and our own reputation, as well as feedback information (Bicchieri, 2006; Adolphs, 2009; Frith and Frith, 2012)
Considering the whole task, the difference between the social norm and the amount tipped by participants in the social condition was significantly lower than the difference between the social norm and the amount tipped by participants in the non-social condition, i.e., the social group tipped more by 1, 4.9 and 8.2% in blocks 1, 2 and 3 respectively
The difference between the social norm and the amount tipped by participants in the social condition was significantly lower than the difference between the social norm and the amount tipped by participants in the non-social condition, i.e., social group tipped more by 7.2, 1.8, 2.9 and 10.6% in blocks 1 to 4 respectively
Summary
Neurobiological and theoretical studies have shown that social norm compliance, and more generally adaptive changes in social behavior, often require the effective use and weighing of different types of information, including expected economic costs and benefits, the potential impact of our behavior on the welfare of others and our own reputation, as well as feedback information (Bicchieri, 2006; Adolphs, 2009; Frith and Frith, 2012). Decision-making can be systematically biased by facial emotional expressions used as predictors of monetary reward (Averbeck and Duchaine, 2009; Evans et al, 2011; Shore and Heerey, 2011). Facial expressions of happiness elicit approaching behavior, whereas angry faces elicit avoidance (Seidel et al, 2010; for a review see Blair, 2003). Because they can function as signals to others, eliciting specific behavioral responses, emotional facial expressions play a major role in socialization practices that help individuals to adapt to the norms and values of their culture (Keltner and Haidt, 1999; Frith, 2009)
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