scholarly journals Investigating the relationship between self-perceived moral superiority and moral behavior using economic games

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben M Tappin ◽  
Ryan McKay

Most people report that they are superior to the average person on various moral traits. The psychological causes and social consequences of this phenomenon have received considerable empirical attention. The behavioral correlates of self-perceived moral superiority, however, remain unknown. We present the results of two preregistered studies (Study 1, N=827; Study 2, N=825) in which we indirectly assessed participants’ self-perceived moral superiority, and used two incentivized economic games to measure their engagement in moral behavior. Across studies, self-perceived moral superiority was unrelated to trust in others and to trustworthiness, as measured by the Trust Game; and unrelated to fairness, as measured by the Dictator Game. This pattern of findings was robust to a range of analyses, and, in both studies, Bayesian analyses indicated moderate support for the null over the alternative hypotheses. We interpret and discuss these findings, and highlight interesting avenues for future research on this topic.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben M. Tappin ◽  
Ryan T. McKay

Most people report that they are superior to the average person on various moral traits. The psychological causes and social consequences of this phenomenon have received considerable empirical attention. The behavioral correlates of self-perceived moral superiority (SPMS), however, remain unknown. We present the results of two preregistered studies (Study 1, N = 827; Study 2, N = 825), in which we indirectly assessed participants’ SPMS and used two incentivized economic games to measure their engagement in moral behavior. Across studies, SPMS was unrelated to trust in others and to trustworthiness, as measured by the trust game, and unrelated to fairness, as measured by the dictator game. This pattern of findings was robust to a range of analyses, and, in both studies, Bayesian analyses indicated moderate support for the null over the alternative hypotheses. We interpret and discuss these findings and highlight interesting avenues for future research on this topic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H.B. McAuliffe ◽  
Daniel E. Forster ◽  
Eric J. Pedersen ◽  
Michael E. McCullough

The Dictator Game, a face valid measure of altruism, and the Trust Game, a face valid measure of trust and trustworthiness, are among the most widely used behavioural measures in human cooperation research. Researchers have observed considerable covariation among these and other economic games, leading them to assert that there exists a general human propensity to cooperate that varies in strength across individuals and manifests itself across a variety of social settings. To formalize this hypothesis, we created an S–1 bifactor model using 276 participants’ Dictator Game and Trust Game decisions. The general factor had significant, moderate associations with self–reported and peer–reported altruism, trust, and trustworthiness. Thus, the positive covariation among economic games is not reducible to the games’ shared situational features. Two hundred participants returned for a second session. The general factor based on Dictator Game and Trust Game decisions from this session did not significantly predict self–reported and peer–reported cooperation, suggesting that experience with economic games causes them to measure different traits from those that are reflected in self–assessments and peer–assessments of cooperativeness. © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology


Author(s):  
Anup Gampa ◽  
Jessica V. Linley ◽  
Brian Roe ◽  
Keith L. Warren

Purpose Therapeutic communities (TCs) assume that residents are capable of working together to overcome substance abuse and criminal behavior. Economic games allow us to study the potential of cooperative behavior in TC residents. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyze results from a sample of 85 corrections-based TC residents and a comparison group of 45 individuals drawn from the general population who participated in five well-known economic experiments – the dictator game, the ultimatum game, the trust game, risk attitude elicitation and time preference elicitation. Findings TC residents keep less money in the dictator game and return more in the trust game, and prefer short-term rewards in the time preference elicitation. In the ultimatum game, nearly half of all residents refuse offers that are either too low or too high. Research limitations/implications While the study involves a sample from one TC and a comparison group, the results suggest that residents are at least comparable to the general public in generosity and appear willing on average to repay trust. A substantial minority may have difficulty accepting help. Practical implications Rapid peer feedback is of value. Residents will be willing to offer help to peers. The TC environment may explain residents’ tendency to return money in the trust game. Residents who refuse to accept offers that are either too low or too high in the ultimatum game may also have difficulty in accepting help from peers. Social implications Economic games may help to clarify guidelines for TC clinical practice. Originality/value This is the first use of economic games with TC residents.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Kenji Medeiros Shiramizu ◽  
Iris Jasmin Holzleitner ◽  
Kieran J. O'Shea ◽  
Vanessa Fasolt ◽  
Lisa Marie DeBruine

Research on whether prosocial behavior is deliberate or intuitive typically uses decision time in economic games as a proxy for the automaticity of underlying cognitive processes. We investigate the relationship between trust and decision time in a sample with a predicted high baseline level of cooperative behavior and low conflict between self-interested and cooperative motives: biological siblings. Sixty-three full sibling pairs played for money in a one-shot trust game. We found a significant negative linear (rather than quadratic) effect of trust on decision time: the more money a sibling was trusted with, the quicker the decision was made. These results suggest that trust among siblings is intuitive and largely based on automatic and effortless processes.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H.B. McAuliffe ◽  
Daniel Eric Forster ◽  
Eric J. Pedersen ◽  
Michael E. McCullough

The Dictator Game, a face valid measure of altruism, and the Trust Game, a face valid measure of trust and trustworthiness, are among the most widely used behavioural measures in human cooperation research. Researchers have observed considerable covariation among these and other economic games, leading them to assert that there exists a general human propensity to cooperate that varies in strength across individuals and manifests itself across a variety of social settings. To formalize this hypothesis, we created an S‐1 bifactor model using 276 participants' Dictator Game and Trust Game decisions. The general factor had significant, moderate associations with self‐reported and peer‐reported altruism, trust, and trustworthiness. Thus, the positive covariation among economic games is not reducible to the games' shared situational features. Two hundred participants returned for a second session. The general factor based on Dictator Game and Trust Game decisions from this session did not significantly predict self‐reported and peer‐reported cooperation, suggesting that experience with economic games causes them to measure different traits from those that are reflected in self‐assessments and peer‐assessments of cooperativeness.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 147470491987242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Ian Reed ◽  
Yanal Matari ◽  
Molly Wu ◽  
Revathi Janaswamy

How do our emotional tears affect the way we are treated? We tested whether tears, paired with either a neutral or a sad facial expression, elicited prosocial behavior among perceivers. Participants viewed a video clip depicting a confederate partner with or without tears displaying either a neutral or sad facial expression before making a behavioral decision in one of two economic games. In a Trust game (Experiment 1), participants who played the role of the investor were more likely to share an endowment after viewing a confederate trustee with tears (paired with either a neutral or a sad facial expression) in comparison to a confederate trustee without tears. However, in a Dictator game (Experiment 2), participants who played the role of allocator were no more likely to share an endowment after viewing a confederate recipient with tears (paired with either a neutral or sad facial expression) in comparison to a confederate recipient without tears. Taken together, these findings suggest that tears increase prosocial behavior by increasing trustworthiness as opposed to generally increasing other-regarding altruistic tendencies.


Crisis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 232-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. DeCou ◽  
Monica C. Skewes

Abstract. Background: Previous research has demonstrated an association between alcohol-related problems and suicidal ideation (SI). Aims: The present study evaluated, simultaneously, alcohol consequences and symptoms of alcohol dependence as predictors of SI after adjusting for depressive symptoms and alcohol consumption. Method: A sample of 298 Alaskan undergraduates completed survey measures, including the Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire, the Short Alcohol Dependence Data Questionnaire, and the Beck Depression Inventory – II. The association between alcohol problems and SI status was evaluated using sequential logistic regression. Results: Symptoms of alcohol dependence (OR = 1.88, p < .05), but not alcohol-related consequences (OR = 1.01, p = .95), emerged as an independent predictor of SI status above and beyond depressive symptoms (OR = 2.39, p < .001) and alcohol consumption (OR = 1.08, p = .39). Conclusion: Alcohol dependence symptoms represented a unique risk for SI relative to alcohol-related consequences and alcohol consumption. Future research should examine the causal mechanism behind the relationship between alcohol dependence and suicidality among university students. Assessing the presence of dependence symptoms may improve the accuracy of identifying students at risk of SI.


2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Meessen ◽  
Verena Mainz ◽  
Siegfried Gauggel ◽  
Eftychia Volz-Sidiropoulou ◽  
Stefan Sütterlin ◽  
...  

Abstract. Recently, Garfinkel and Critchley (2013) proposed to distinguish between three facets of interoception: interoceptive sensibility, interoceptive accuracy, and interoceptive awareness. This pilot study investigated how these facets interrelate to each other and whether interoceptive awareness is related to the metacognitive awareness of memory performance. A sample of 24 healthy students completed a heartbeat perception task (HPT) and a memory task. Judgments of confidence were requested for each task. Participants filled in questionnaires assessing interoceptive sensibility, depression, anxiety, and socio-demographic characteristics. The three facets of interoception were found to be uncorrelated and interoceptive awareness was not related to metacognitive awareness of memory performance. Whereas memory performance was significantly related to metamemory awareness, interoceptive accuracy (HPT) and interoceptive awareness were not correlated. Results suggest that future research on interoception should assess all facets of interoception in order to capture the multifaceted quality of the construct.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-111
Author(s):  
Fong-Yi Lai ◽  
Szu-Chi Lu ◽  
Cheng-Chen Lin ◽  
Yu-Chin Lee

Abstract. The present study proposed that, unlike prior leader–member exchange (LMX) research which often implicitly assumed that each leader develops equal-quality relationships with their supervisors (leader’s LMX; LLX), every leader develops different relationships with their supervisors and, in turn, receive different amounts of resources. Moreover, these differentiated relationships with superiors will influence how leader–member relationship quality affects team members’ voice and creativity. We adopted a multi-temporal (three wave) and multi-source (leaders and employees) research design. Hypotheses were tested on a sample of 227 bank employees working in 52 departments. Results of the hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis showed that LLX moderates the relationship between LMX and team members’ voice behavior and creative performance. Strengths, limitations, practical implications, and directions for future research are discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peizhen Sun ◽  
Jennifer J. Chen ◽  
Hongyan Jiang

Abstract. This study investigated the mediating role of coping humor in the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and job satisfaction. Participants were 398 primary school teachers in China, who completed the Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, Coping Humor Scale, and Overall Job Satisfaction Scale. Results showed that coping humor was a significant mediator between EI and job satisfaction. A further examination revealed, however, that coping humor only mediated two sub-dimensions of EI (use of emotion and regulation of emotion) and job satisfaction. Implications for future research and limitations of the study are discussed.


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