Social Decision Making

Question 1

Define decision making.

Answer 1

The ability to process multiple alternatives and choose the optimal course of action, informed by self- and other- regarding preferences.

Question 2

What does the dictator game investigate? How is it played?

Answer 2

Costly prosocial behaviour, fairness and inequality aversion.
The proposer decides how to split money.

Question 3

What does the Ultimatum Game investigate? How is it played?

Answer 3

Costly prosocial behaviour and response to unfair/social norm violations.
Proposer decides what the responder will think is fair and shares money accordingly. The responder decides if the offer is fair and accepts or rejects it.

Question 4

What does the Trust Game investigate? How is it played?

Answer 4

Fairness, reciprocity, cooperation, coaxing.
Investor decides how much they trust the person and how much they give them depending on how much they expect back. The Trustee gets the investor to trust them enough to get more money.

Question 5

What usually happens throughout the Trust Game when adults play until the last trial?

Answer 5

Trust increases throughout trials, until the last when players try to take advantage.

Question 6

What did Fehr et al. (2008) investigate (and how)?

Answer 6

• Inequality aversion
• 292 participants, 3-8y.
• Asked to share sweets with anonymous child
• 3 options: Prosocial, Envy and Sharing
• By 7-8y, children less selfish and made more prosocial choices: developmental emergence of other-regarding preferences

Question 7

What did Guroglu et al. (2009) find?

What is the main conclusion?

Answer 7

• Adapted Ultimatum Game.
• 135 participants, 9/12/15/18y
• If participants had the chance to be fair, they would be.
• If an offer can be rejected, there was an age related increase in choosing the standard split.
• Strategic prosociability increased with age: 15-18y more likely to choose 8:2 over 2:8.
• Strategic thinking apparent at 9y.
• Context dependent modulation of fairness.

Question 8

Describe Guroglu et al., 2014.

Answer 8

• 119 participants, 9/12/15/18y.
• 3 distribution games and Trust Game
• 4 partners: friend, antagonists, neutral classmate and anonymous peers
• Older adolescents = increased differentiation depending on relationship
• Adolescents improve at incorporating social context in decision making.
• Role of friendships = significant social context for development of prosocial behaviour in early adolescence

Question 9

What does development of rejection of Ultimatum Game offers parallel with?

Answer 9

Development of perspective taking.

Question 10

What happens to the basic concept of fairness in adolescence?

Answer 10

It does not continue to develop.

Question 11

What increases during adolescence?

Answer 11

Trust and reciprocation.