Abstract
Based on the group heuristic model and the model of intuitive cooperation, we hypothesized that in-group favoritism would be conspicuously shown through an intuitive process. To test this hypothesis, we utilized a minimal group paradigm, which is traditionally used in social psychological studies, and manipulated decision time in a one-shot prisoner’s dilemma game to compare the cooperative contribution level toward in-group and out-group members under three conditions: intuitive, empathic deliberation, and rational deliberation. Our findings confirmed that in-group favoritism was clearly shown in the intuitive condition only, suggesting that the intuitive cooperation model may only be valid in the context of social exchange with in-group members. Additional analysis also showed that in-group favoritism disappeared for participants who had been forced into empathic or rational deliberation for decision making. The theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.
Highlights
Is human cooperation intuitive or does it requires deliberation? Recently, researchers, who take the position that intuition facilitates cooperative behavior, have shown that the shorter the time required for decision making, the more people show cooperative behavior in economic games (Rand et al, 2012, 2014)
We focused on the association between peoples’ cooperative behavior and decision time in the context of social exchange with in-group or out-group members
Our findings provide evidence that in-group favoritism was clearly shown in intuitive conditions, which supports hypothesis 1
Summary
Researchers, who take the position that intuition facilitates cooperative behavior, have shown that the shorter the time required for decision making, the more people show cooperative behavior in economic games (Rand et al, 2012, 2014). These findings appear to support the social heuristic hypothesis (Rand et al, 2014), which assumes that intuition drives people’s cooperation. Yamagishi and colleagues argued that only individuals with prosocial orientation may react intuitively and cooperatively (Yamagishi et al, 2017; Andrighetto et al, 2020). Previous studies have focused mainly on the decision makers themselves, that is, those who cooperate or not in
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