Abstract
In the ultimatum-game, as in many real-life social exchange situations, the selfish motive to maximize own gains conflicts with fairness preferences. In the present study we manipulated the availability of cognitive-control resources for ultimatum-game proposers to test whether preference for fairness is a deliberative cognitive-controlled act or an automatic act. In two experiments we found that a shortage of cognitive control (ego depletion) led proposers in the ultimatum game (UG) to propose significantly more equal split offers than non-depleted proposers. These results can be interpreted as resulting from an automatic concern for fairness, or from a greater fear of rejection, which would be in line with a purely self-interested response. To separate these competing explanations, in Experiment 2 we conducted a dictator-game in which the responder cannot reject the offer. In contrast to the increased fairness behavior demonstrated by depleted ultimatum-game proposers, we found that depleted dictator-game allocators chose the equal split significantly less often than non-depleted allocators. These results indicate that fairness preferences are automatically driven among UG proposers. The automatic fair behavior, however, at least partially reflects concern about self-interest gain. We discuss different explanations for these results.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 240 |
Journal | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
Volume | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 13 Jun 2013 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2013 Halali, Bereby-Meyer and Ockenfels.
Keywords
- Cognitive-control
- Dictator game
- Dual process
- Ego-depletion
- Fairness
- Self-control
- Social preferences
- Ultimatum game