Competitive Social Contexts Research Articles

Responses of wild skuas (Catharacta antarctica ssp. lonnbergi) to human cues in cooperative and competitive social contexts.

Many animals respond to and use social cues emitted by other species (e.g., head direction). In the context of human-animal communication, these capacities have been attributed to regular and longstanding exposure to humans. We presented wild brown skuas (Catharacta antarctica ssp. lonnbergi) with two versions of an object-choice paradigm. In the cooperative version (Experiment 1), one human experimenter provided a simple and salient cue indicating which of two containers covered a food reward. The cues administered consisted of touching, looking at, pointing at, or pointing and looking at the container hiding food. In Experiment 1, skuas could thus cooperate with an experimenter by using the cues provided to locate the rewarded container. In the competitive version (Experiment 2), two human experimenters presented a platform with a visible food reward. In six experimental conditions, we varied experimenters' body orientation, head orientation, eye-gaze direction, face occlusion, and mouth occlusion, as well as the platform's location, ensuring that in each case only one experimenter had visual access to the rewarded platform. Here, birds could compete with the experimenters by robbing the human who does not see the food. Skuas failed to use human-given cues spontaneously in Experiment 1, and took the reward regardless of whether the experimenters could see in Experiment 2. Our results contrast with those obtained on other wild birds with pre-experience with humans. Hopefully, our findings will stimulate further research in order to illuminate the potential role of such experience in the capacity to respond to and use human-given cues. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Electrophysiological correlates of attentional capture in joint action.

In joint action, agents are assumed to represent their partner's task to optimize joint performance. However, the neurophysiological processes underlying the processing of the partner's task have not been widely investigated. Pairs of participants were asked to perform a joint version of a visual search task in either a cooperative or a competitive social context. During the task, one agent's neural activity was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). The alpha-lateralization index was calculated as [(contralateral-ipsilateral)/(contralateral+ipsilateral)]×100 to examine attentional selection or suppression of the laterally presented stimulus. A negative alpha-lateralization indicates lower alpha-band power over the contralateral sites compared to the ipsilateral sites and was related to attentional selection. A positive alpha-lateralization indicates higher alpha-band power over the contralateral sites compared to the ipsilateral sites and was related to attentional suppression. Behavioral results showed impeded search performance when the partner target was present. Furthermore, EEG time-frequency results showed that the partner target induced a negative parieto-occipital alpha-lateralization, indicating that it captured attention, when the agent target was absent. When the agent target was present, the parieto-occipital alpha-lateralization index was negative for laterally presented partner target in the cooperative and positive in the competitive social context, indicative of attentional capture in the cooperative condition and suppression of the partner target in the competitive condition. In sum, our study showed that humans tune their attentional processing toward a partner target in a joint action task. This attentional tuning was shown to be affected by social context and the presence of the agent's own target.

The presence of a potential competitor modulates risk preferences in rats

Although both human and non-human animals, in everyday life, deal with risky decisions in a social environment, few studies investigated how social dimension influences risk preferences (i.e., if consequences on others feeds back over own choice). Here, we assessed whether the presence of a conspecific, acting as a potential competitor for the same food resource, influenced risky decision-making in male rats. Subjects received a series of choices between a safe option (always yielding a small yet optimal reward, solely to itself) and a risky option (yielding a larger but suboptimal reward, one third of times to itself and two third of times delivered to the other half cage); rats were tested twice, both alone and paired with a conspecific, recipient of own-lost food and hence acting as potential competitor. Results showed that focal subjects were more risk-prone when paired with a conspecific than when tested alone. However, rats exhibited also a higher motivational conflict with a competing bystander present than alone: data suggest that the primary drive was to increase "own" food rather than either a competitive or prosocial tendency. Overall, for rats tested in a risky-choice task, a competitive social context increased the salience and attractiveness of larger food outcomes, as observed in humans and great apes. This led to the economically irrational response of selecting the “binge-but-risky” option, notwithstanding uncertainty about the actual recipient of such food.

Cooperative Criticism: When Criticism Enhances Creativity in Brainstorming and Negotiation

Long-standing wisdom holds that criticism is antithetical to effective brainstorming because it incites intragroup conflict. However, a number of recent studies have challenged this assumption, suggesting that criticism might actually enhance creativity in brainstorming by fostering divergent thinking. Our paper reconciles these perspectives with new theory and a multimethod investigation to explain when and why criticism promotes creativity in brainstorming. We propose that a cooperative social context allows criticism to be construed positively, spurring creativity without inciting intragroup conflict, whereas a competitive social context makes criticism more divisive, leading to intragroup conflict and a corresponding reduction in creativity. We found support for this theory from a field experiment involving 100 group brainstorming sessions with actual stakeholders in a controversial urban planning project. In a cooperative context, instructions encouraging criticism yielded more ideas and more creative ideas, whereas in a competitive context, encouraging criticism yielded fewer ideas and less creative ideas. We replicated this finding in a laboratory study involving brainstorming in the context of a union-management negotiation scenario, which allowed us to hold constant the nature of the criticism. Taken together, our findings suggest that the optimal context for creativity in brainstorming is a cooperative one in which criticism occurs but is interpreted constructively because the brainstorming parties perceive their goals as aligned.

Cooperative Criticism: When Criticism Enhances Creativity in Brainstorming and Negotiation

Long-standing wisdom holds that criticism is antithetical to effective brainstorming because it incites intragroup conflict. However, a number of recent studies have challenged this assumption, suggesting that criticism might actually enhance creativity in brainstorming by fostering divergent thinking. Our paper reconciles these perspectives with new theory and a multi-method investigation to explain when and why criticism promotes creativity in brainstorming. We propose that a cooperative social context allows criticism to be construed positively, spurring creativity without inciting intragroup conflict, whereas a competitive social context makes criticism more divisive, leading to intragroup conflict and a corresponding reduction in creativity. We found support for this theory from a field experiment involving 100 group brainstorming sessions with actual stakeholders in a controversial urban planning project. In a cooperative context, instructions encouraging criticism yielded more ideas and more creative ideas, whereas in a competitive context, encouraging criticism yielded fewer ideas and less creative ideas. We replicated this finding in a lab study involving brainstorming in the context of a union-management negotiation scenario, which allowed us to hold constant the nature of the criticism. Taken together, our findings suggest that the optimal context for creativity in brainstorming is a cooperative one in which criticism occurs, but is interpreted constructively because the brainstorming parties perceive their goals as aligned.

Hormonal changes after competition predict sex‐differentiated decision‐making

AbstractRecent neuroendocrinology research has pointed out that testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) changes after social interactions can predict risk‐taking behavior in decision‐making, depending on the sex of participants. However, previous research has focused on the effects of the changes in only one hormone, rather than the interaction between them, even though C can suppress T activity. Our aim was to test, in men and women, the role of T changes moderated by C changes after competition in decision‐making. Thus, 48 males and 46 females completed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) after a laboratory competition or a noncompetitive task (control task). Saliva samples were collected before and after the competition/control task. IGT was employed to measure risk‐taking decision‐making, considering the degree of uncertainty. Our results showed sex‐differentiated effects of T and C changes on risk‐taking behavior. On the one hand, men from both task groups (Competition/Control) who had higher C and T changes after competition showed more risk‐taking decision‐making (higher IG Risk). On the other hand, women from the competitive task who had high C and T showed conservative decision‐making. Therefore, these results show sex‐differentiated decision‐making profiles, which would help to understand how men and women behave after experiencing a competitive social context.

Cooperative and Competitive Contextual Effects on Social Cognitive and Empathic Neural Responses.

We aimed to differentiate the neural responses to cooperative and competitive contexts, which are the two of the most important social contexts in human society. Healthy male college students were asked to complete a Tetris-like task requiring mental rotation skills under individual, cooperative, and competitive contexts in an fMRI scanner. While the participants completed the task, pictures of others experiencing pain evoking emotional empathy randomly appeared to capture contextual effects on empathic neural responses. Behavioral results indicated that, in the presence of cooperation, participants solved the tasks more accurately and quickly than what they did when in the presence of competition. The fMRI results revealed activations in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) related to executive functions and theory of mind when participants performed the task under both cooperative and competitive contexts, whereas no activation of such areas was observed in the individual context. Cooperation condition exhibited stronger neural responses in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dmPFC than competition condition. Competition condition, however, showed marginal neural responses in the cerebellum and anterior insular cortex (AIC). The two social contexts involved stronger empathic neural responses to other’s pain than the individual context, but no substantial differences between cooperation and competition were present. Regions of interest analyses revealed that individual’s trait empathy modulated the neural activity in the state empathy network, the AIC, and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) depending on the social context. These results suggest that cooperation improves task performance and activates neural responses associated with reward and mentalizing. Furthermore, the interaction between trait- and state-empathy was explored by correlation analyses between individual’s trait empathy score and changing empathic brain activations along with the exposure to the cooperative and competitive social contexts.

Compete or rest? Willingness to compete hurt among adolescent elite athletes

ObjectiveTraining and competing despite underlying health problems is a common social practice in sport. Adolescent elite athletes are particularly vulnerable to possible health consequences of this risky behavior due to their very sensitive developmental stage. Conceptualizing this phenomenon of playing hurt as sickness presenteeism, and taking the concept of absence/presence legitimacy into account, this paper analyzes the propensity of adolescent elite athletes to compete in the face of health problems. The central aim is to empirically identify characteristics of elite sport subcultures which affect athletes’ willingness to compete hurt (WCH). Materials & methodsBased on a comprehensive sample of 1138 German elite adolescent athletes from all Olympic sports (14–18 years), the paper applies classification tree analysis to analyze the social and individual determinants of the WCH. ResultsDeterminants on three hierarchical levels were identified, including type of sport, perceptions of social pressure, coach's leadership style and athletes' age. The group with the highest WCH were athletes from technical sports who have a coach with an autocratic leadership style. Second was athletes from ball games, and those in aesthetic and weight-dependent sports, aged between 17 and 18 years old. The lowest mean WCH-score, by some distance, occurred amongst the group of endurance and power sports athletes who experienced no direct social pressure to play hurt. ConclusionsThe findings enhance our understanding of absence/presence legitimacy in highly competitive social contexts and contribute to the development of more effective target-group-specific health prevention programs for young athletes.

Competition makes faces look more aggressive

Observers use facial appearance to predict social behavior and individuals' personality traits. We examined the possibility that social contexts can also influence face perception. To investigate the relationship between competitive social contexts and perceived appearance, we leveraged a known link between aggression and a simple physiognomic cue: the facial width-to-height ratio (WHR). Faces with higher WHRs are perceived as being more aggressive (Carre, McCormick, & Mondloch, 2009) and individuals with naturally higher WHRs exhibit more aggressive behavior (Carre & McCormick, 2008). Participants played a simple skill game either in competition (N=30) or cooperation (N=30) with a confederate prior to reconstructing the facial appearance of their opponent/partner and a refereeing third party by arranging segmented facial features on a screen until they had produced a best likeness of the target individual. We anticipated that higher perceived aggression during competition would lead to higher reconstructed WHRs than cooperation. The results supported this prediction: participants' reconstructions had significantly higher WHRs (p Language: en

Never Good Enough

AbstractIn different schooling systems throughout the world children of socially advantaged groups experience a higher degree of academic success than children of minority or underprivileged groups. However, there is evidence that academic success comes at a cost. In this paper, based on the findings of an ethnographic research at a Spanish middle-upper class high school, it is argued that secondary school socialization has a strong focus on the future, and it fosters feelings of anxiety in the children of elites. Students believe that a good academic trajectory is the cornerstone to a successful career and they try to take individual control of their future lives without learning how to influence their competitive social context.

Decision making across social contexts: competition increases preferences for risk in chimpanzees and bonobos

Context can have a powerful influence on decision-making strategies in humans. In particular, people sometimes shift their economic preferences depending on the broader social context, such as the presence of potential competitors or mating partners. Despite the important role of competition in primate conspecific interactions, as well as evidence that competitive social contexts impact primates’ social cognitive skills, there has been little study of how social context influences the strategies that nonhumans show when making decisions about the value of resources. Here we investigate the impact of social context on preferences for risk (variability in payoffs) in our two closest phylogenetic relatives, chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, and bonobos, Pan paniscus .I n afirst study, we examine the impact of competition on patterns of risky choice. In a second study, we examine whether a positive play context affects risky choices. We find that (1) apes are more likely to choose the risky option when making decisions in a competitive context; and (2) the play context did not influence their risk preferences. Overall these results suggest that some types of social contexts can shift patterns of decision making in nonhuman apes, much like in humans. Comparative studies of chimpanzees and bonobos can therefore

A dyadic data analysis of executive functioning and children's socially competent behaviours

Behaving in a socially competent manner is a complex process that requires the coordination of a number of cognitive skills. The present study examined the unique contributions of executive functions (i.e., inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility), theory of mind, and verbal skills to socially competent behaviours during social interactions. Children (5- to 8years old; N=114) completed an interactive task in both a cooperative and competitive social context, as well as cognitive tasks. There was strong reciprocity in cooperative and neutral, but not competitive, behaviours between partners. Dyadic analysis was used to account for the mutual influence occurring between social actors. Children with more proficient inhibitory control showed less competitive behaviours during the cooperative context, even when controlling for their own and their partners’ cognitive skills. Children's executive functioning did not relate to behaviour within the competitive context. Implications for interventions focussed on improving children's social skills are discussed.

Theory Development and Evaluation of Project WIN

There is a need for an effective violence reduction program for early adolescents in schools. Social psychologists have had success teaching adolescents integrative negotiation strategies that help them to resolve potentially violent conflicts. The caveat is that these strategies are effective only in cooperative social contexts and backfire in competitive social contexts. To develop an effective violence reduction program, we must not only teach young people skills of integrated negotiation; we must also present complementary strategies to help them transform competitive social contexts into cooperative social contexts. The purpose of this study was to present a violence reduction program, entitled Project WIN (Working out Integrated Negotiations), which accomplished both of these goals. The target group was fifth-graders in a low-income, urban community. Plans for further evaluation of Project WIN and greater investment of educators and researchers in the behavioral technology of violence reduction are discussed.

Do male barn swallows ( Hirundo rustica ) experience a trade-off between the expression of multiple sexual signals?

Some sexual selection models envisage exaggerated male secondary sexual characters to be costly and therefore reliable indicators of the quality of potential mates to choosy females. If male secondary sexual characters have a natural selection cost, they may be linked to each other by reciprocally constraining relationships that would prevent individual males from increasing their level of multiple signaling. Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) males have at least two costly signals relevant to socio-sexual interactions: tail length and song. Under the hypothesis that a trade-off exists between male signals, we manipulated the maintenance cost of tail ornaments to test whether this reduced the quantity and quality of song, a condition-dependent, phenotypically plastic signal. Contrary to our expectation, tail elongation had no effect on singing activity and song complexity. However, tail-elongated males produced songs with longer terminal parts ('rattles'). Long rattles are associated with highly competitive social contexts and high circulating levels of testosterone, suggesting that tail-elongated males were more frequently involved in either male-male aggressive or inter-sexual interactions. Therefore, this study shows that males are not displaying multiple signals at the maximum possible level, implying that this system is open to unreliable communication. However, long-term trade-offs between signal expression and viability may prevent males from displaying both signals at higher rates.

Motivation for Conflict Among Chinese University Students: Effects of Others' Expertise and One's Own Confidence on Engaging in Conflict

Researchers (A. C. Amason, 1996; D. H. Gruenfeld, 1995; K. A. Jehn, 1995, 1997; M. A. Rahim, 1989; M. A. Rahim & A. A. Blum, 1994; D. M. Schweiger, W. R. Sandberg, & P. L. Rechner, 1989; P. E. Tetlock, D. Armor, & R. S. Peterson, 1994) have documented the value of conflictual discussions for solving problems, but few have explored the conditions under which people are motivated to engage in controversy (K. A. Jehn, C. Chadwick, & S. M. B. Thatcher, 1997). Some (M. Van Berklom & D. Tjosvold, 1981) have hypothesized that high expertise and a competitive social context arouse concerns about defending one's position and challenging the opposing one. In the present study, Chinese university students in Hong Kong who expected to disagree with an expert, compared with those who did not expect to disagree with an expert, had less confidence, felt less knowledgeable about their position, and selected an agreeable discussant. Consistent with the idea of maintaining distance from those in power, the participants were reluctant to disagree directly with someone with greater expertise.