Adam Smith, scientist and evolutionist: modelling other-regarding behavior without social preferences

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vernon L. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Preferences ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Other Regarding

scholarly journals The effects of psychosocial stress on intergroup resource allocation

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Schweda ◽  
Nadira Sophie Faber ◽  
Molly J. Crockett ◽  
Tobias Kalenscher
Keyword(s):  
Social Preferences ◽  
Social Dilemma ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Physiological Factors ◽  
Prosocial Motives ◽  
Tend And Befriend ◽  
Stress Changes ◽  
Effects Of Stress ◽  
Other Regarding ◽  
Fight Or Flight

AbstractStress changes our social behavior. Traditionally, stress has been associated with “fight-or-flight” – the tendency to attack an aggressor, or escape the stressor. But stress may also promote the opposite pattern, i.e., “tend-and-befriend” – increased prosociality toward others. It is currently unclear which situational or physiological factors promote one or the other. Here, we hypothesized that stress stimulates both tendencies, but that fight-or-flight is primarily directed against a potentially hostile outgroup, moderated by rapid-acting catecholamines, while tend-and-befriend is mainly shown towards a supportive ingroup, regulated by cortisol. To test this hypothesis, we measured stress-related neurohormonal modulators and sex hormones in male and female participants who were exposed to a psychosocial stressor, and subsequently played an intergroup social dilemma game in which they could reveal prosocial motives towards an ingroup (ingroup-love) and hostility towards an outgroup (outgroup-hate). We found no significant effects of stress on social preferences, but stress-related heart-rate increases predicted outgroup-hostile behavior. Furthermore, when controlling for testosterone, cortisol was associated with increased ingroup-love. Other-regarding behavior was overall higher in male than female participants. Our mixed results are of interest to scholars of the effects of stress on prosocial and aggressive behavior, but call for refinement in future replications.

Evolution and Moral Motivation in Economics

2019 ◽  
pp. 115-137
Author(s):  
Geoffrey M. Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
Utility Maximization ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Moral Motivation ◽  
Economic Man ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Preference Functions ◽  
Recent Addition ◽  
Other Regarding ◽  
Other Regarding Preferences ◽  
Descent Of Man

Adam Smith argued that humans were motivated by both self-interest and moral concerns. Economics has since moved towards a contrasting utilitarian view where behavior is understood in terms of unifying preference functions. Also most economists have presumed that these preferences are “self-regarding.” Two major treatises in economics were published in 1871, with self-seeking economic man at their center. In the same year Darwin published The Descent of Man, which emphasized sympathy and cooperation as well as self-interest, and argued that morality has evolved in humans by natural selection. This stance is supported by modern research. This article reconciles Darwin’s view that developed morality requires language and deliberation (and is thus unique to humans), with his other claim that moral feelings have a long-evolved and biologically inherited basis. It also questions whether the recent addition of “other-regarding” preferences is adequate, and whether morality and altruism are reducible to preferences or utility maximization.

scholarly journals Inventory and Pricing Decisions Under Wholesale Price Contract with Social Preferences

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuren Liu ◽  
Huina Chen ◽  
Lili Chen
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Stackelberg Game ◽  
Wholesale Price ◽  
Price Setting ◽  
Order Quantity ◽  
Pricing Decisions ◽  
Other Regarding ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Other Regarding Preferences

AbstractThis paper introduces the other-regarding preferences coefficients and studies the impact of social preferences on supply chain performance in the price-setting newsvendor setting. It is assumed that the stochastic demand is multiplicative. The manufacturer and retailer play a Stackelberg game. We analyze the impact of the decision-maker’s social preferences on the manufacturer’s optimal wholesale price, the retailer’s optimal retail price and order quantity, the supply chain member’s profits and utilities, and the supply chain system’s profits and utilities under three different cases that only the retailer, only the manufacturer and both are with social preferences. We show that a manufacturer, as a leader, should find a spiteful retailer, while a retailer, as a follower, should find a manufacturer with generous liability, to improve the entire supply chain. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate these results.

Smith, Friedman, and Self-Interest in Ethical Society

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 659-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harvey S. James ◽  
Farhad Rassekh
Keyword(s):  
Adam Smith ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Milton Friedman ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Individual Actions ◽  
Other Regarding

Abstract:We examine the writings of Adam Smith and Milton Friedman regarding their interpretation and use of the concept of self-interest. We argue that neither Smith nor Friedman considers self-interest to be synonymous with selfishness and thus devoid of ethical considerations. Rather, for both writers self-interest embodies an other-regarding aspect that requires individuals to moderate their actions when others are adversely affected. The overriding virtue for Smith in governing individual actions is justice; for Friedman it is non-coercion.

Preference or paradigm? Bonobos show no evidence of other-regard in the standard prosocial choice task

Behaviour ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 521-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingzhi Tan ◽  
Suzy Kwetuenda ◽  
Brian Hare
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Current Standard ◽  
Cognitive Differences ◽  
Other Regarding ◽  
Other Regarding Preferences ◽  
Social Biases

Bonobos are the only ape species, other than humans, that have demonstrated prosocial behaviors toward groupmates and strangers. However, bonobos have not been tested in the most frequently used test of prosociality in animals. The current study tested the other-regarding preferences of bonobos in two experiments using the prosocial choice task. In the first experiment subjects preferred a food option that would benefit both themselves and another bonobo. This preference was likely the result of a location bias developed in the pretest since they showed the same preference in the non-social control condition within test sessions. A second experiment was designed to help subjects overcome this bias that might interfere with their social choices. Bonobos again did not prefer to choose the prosocial option. However, results suggest constraints of this paradigm in revealing social preferences. In discussing our results we consider why bonobos show robust prosocial preferences in other paradigms but not here. While others have suggested that such contradictory results might suggest interesting motivational or cognitive differences between humans and non-humans, we propose that the current ‘standard’ paradigm has failed validation due to three methodological constraints. Across the dozens of studies completed few have demonstrated that non-human subjects understand the causal properties of the apparatus, non-social biases quickly develop in inadequately counterbalanced pretests that typically explain subjects’ choices in the test, and even human children found this choice task too cognitively demanding to consistently show prosocial preferences. We suggest it is time to consider switching to a variety of more powerful and valid measures.

THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL PREFERENCES ON THE EVOLUTION OF COOPERATION IN PUBLIC GOOD GAMES

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (03n04) ◽  
pp. 1450015
Author(s):  
MARCO A. JANSSEN ◽  
MILES MANNING ◽  
OYITA UDIANI
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Pure Strategy ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Behavioral Experiments ◽  
Strategy Model ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Pure Strategies ◽  
Other Regarding

Human societies are unique in the level of cooperation among non-kin. Evolutionary models explaining this behavior typically assume pure strategies of cooperation and defection. Behavioral experiments, however, demonstrate that humans are typically conditional co-operators who have other-regarding preferences. Building on existing models on the evolution of cooperation and costly punishment, we use a utilitarian formulation of agent decision making to explore conditions that support the emergence of cooperative behavior. Our results indicate that cooperation levels are significantly lower for larger groups in contrast to the original pure strategy model. Here, defection behavior not only diminishes the public good, but also affects the expectations of group members leading conditional co-operators to change their strategies. Hence defection has a more damaging effect when decisions are based on expectations and not only pure strategies.

scholarly journals Testosterone reduces generosity through cortical and subcortical mechanisms

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (12) ◽  
pp. e2021745118
Author(s):  
Jianxin Ou ◽  
Yin Wu ◽  
Yang Hu ◽  
Xiaoxue Gao ◽  
Hong Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Preferences ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
The Other ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Young Males ◽  
Subject Design ◽  
Economic Decision Making ◽  
Social Discounting ◽  
Other Regarding

Recent evidence has linked testosterone, a major sex hormone, to selfishness in economic decision-making. Here, we aimed to investigate the neural mechanisms through which testosterone reduces generosity by combining functional MRI with pharmacological manipulation among healthy young males in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design. After testosterone or placebo gel administration, participants performed a social discounting task in which they chose between selfish options (benefiting only the participant) and generous options (providing also some benefit to another person at a particular social distance). At the behavioral level, testosterone reduced generosity compared to the placebo. At the neural level (n = 60), the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) encoded the other-regarding value of the generous option during generous choices, and this effect was attenuated by testosterone, suggesting that testosterone reduced the consideration of other’s welfare as underpinned by TPJ activity. Moreover, TPJ activity more strongly reflected individual differences in generosity in the placebo than the testosterone group. Furthermore, testosterone weakened the relation between the other-regarding value of generous decisions and connectivity between the TPJ and a region extending from the insula into the striatum. Together, these findings suggest that a network encompassing both cortical and subcortical components underpins the effects of testosterone on social preferences.

scholarly journals Give and Let Give: Alternative Mechanisms Based on Voluntary Contributions

Games ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip D. Grech
Keyword(s):  
Nash Equilibrium ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Social Dilemma ◽  
Social Optimum ◽  
New Family ◽  
The Social ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
Common Group ◽  
Vantage Points ◽  
Other Regarding

We propose a new family of mechanisms, whereby players may give more or less directly to one another. A cornerstone case is the regular linear public goods mechanism (LPGM), where all contribute into a single common group account, the total amount of which is then distributed equally among players. We show that with sufficiently (yet not necessarily fully) pro-social preferences, the social optimum can be reached in Nash equilibrium in all social dilemma situations described by our mechanisms (including the LPGM). In addition, for a given heterogeneity of pro-social preferences, we help to identify which specific mechanisms perform best in terms of incentivizing giving. Our results are therefore relevant from two vantage points. One, they provide proper rational choice benchmarks based on Nash equilibrium under the assumption of other-regarding preferences. Two, they provide arguments in favor of re-structuring many collective action problems currently implemented as LPGMs when it is feasible to gain some information concerning who has concern for whom.

Prosociality, International Law, and Humanitarian Intervention

2021 ◽  
pp. 90-109
Author(s):  
Tomer Broude
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
International Law ◽  
Bystander Effect ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Humanitarian Intervention ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Individual Psychology ◽  
Broad Framework ◽  
Other Regarding

A significant insight of behaviouralism and social psychology, well-established through experimental research, is that actors display ‘social preferences’, other-regarding or non-self-interested decision-making. Contrary to rational choice assumptions, people may have only ‘bounded selfishness’ in decisions, caring not only about their own payoffs, but about those of others. This chapter provides a broad framework for assessing the relevance of prosociality to international law, discussing the levels of analysis problem that inheres in any shift from individual psychology to corporate actors such as states. The chapter focuses on one area in which prosociality may enrich discussion of a contested issue in international law and the problems it raises—humanitarian intervention. How can motivation and personality—the main variables of prosociality—apply to international actors? Is the ‘bystander effect’ prevalent in international relations? Which other areas of international law relate to prosociality? And can (or should) international law encourage prosociality?

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