Reflectivity relates differently to pro sociality in naïve and strategic subjects

Is pro sociality a natural impulse or the result of a self-controlled behavior? We investigate this issue in a lab in the field experiment with participants from the general adult population in Italy. We find two key results: first, that there is a positive relationship between pro sociality and str...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 12745 - 15
Main Authors Pancotto, Francesca, Righi, Simone
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 17.06.2021
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects
631/181
631/181/1403
639/705/1041
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Behavior
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive ability
Cognitive load
Cooperation
Decision making
Female
Games
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Hypotheses
Intuition
Italy
Male
Middle Aged
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Social Behavior
Task Performance and Analysis
Young Adult
Italy
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Summary:Is pro sociality a natural impulse or the result of a self-controlled behavior? We investigate this issue in a lab in the field experiment with participants from the general adult population in Italy. We find two key results: first, that there is a positive relationship between pro sociality and strategic reasoning. Second, that reflectivity relates to lower pro sociality but only among strategic subjects, indicating that the intuitive view of pro sociality is valid only among strategic individuals. Non-strategic individuals are instead intuitively selfish. We surmise that these results emerge due to a common cognitive root between strategizing and pro sociality, namely empathy.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-91960-3