Caring Cooperators and Powerful Punishers: Differential Effects of Induced Care and Power Motivation on Different Types of Economic Decision Making

G Chierchia,T Singer,F H Parianen Lesemann,M Vogel,D Snower

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-11580-8

Abstract

Standard economic theory postulates that decisions are driven by stable context-insensitive preferences, while motivation psychology suggests they are driven by distinct context-sensitive motives with distinct evolutionary goals and characteristic psycho-physiological and behavioral patterns. To link these fields and test how distinct motives could differentially predict different types of economic decisions, we experimentally induced participants with either a Care or a Power motive, before having them take part in a suite of classic game theoretical paradigms involving monetary exchange. We show that the Care induction alone raised scores on a latent factor of cooperation-related behaviors, relative to a control condition, while, relative to Care, Power raised scores on a punishment-related factor. These findings argue against context-insensitive stable preferences and theories of strong reciprocity and in favor of a motive-based approach to economic decision making: Care and Power motivation have a dissociable fingerprint in shaping either cooperative or punishment behaviors.

Highlights

We aimed to assess whether distinct induced motives can impact different patterns of decision making, by comparing the behavioral impact of two classic psychological motives related to distinct goals: a motive related to Care ( “Care”) and one related to power and status (“Power”)
To bridge the fields of motivation psychology and behavioral economics and work towards a motive-based model of economic decision-making, we investigated how inducing two distinct motives, Care and Power, could differentially affect two types of economic behaviors: cooperative versus punishment-based economic decisions, both having been linked in theories of “strong reciprocity”[28, 29]
We show that a novel Care induction, realized through the anticipation of a later interaction with a group of puppies, can increase a latent measure of cooperation based on a variety of cooperative game theoretical paradigms

Summary

Introduction

We aimed to assess whether distinct induced motives can impact different patterns of decision making, by comparing the behavioral impact of two classic psychological motives related to distinct goals: a motive related to Care ( “Care”) and one related to power and status (“Power”). On the level of behavior, Care motivation, empathic concern or compassion[16, 23] have been associated with behaviors that altruistically benefit other individuals or groups[26, 27] and with activation in affiliation and reward related neuronal networks[16], while Power has frequently been associated to competitive or assertive behaviors[2]. In spite of this preliminary evidence, it remains unclear how Care and Power might systematically affect different factors of economic decision making as conceptualized and investigated in behavioral economics. Training in compassion has been linked to increased cooperative behavior[33] and decreased likelihood to punish non-cooperators[34]

Objectives

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Conclusion