Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, UK Medical Research Council, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2010 Dec 8;5(12):e15095. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015095.
Humans react strongly to unfairness, sometimes rejecting inequitable proposals even if this sacrifices personal financial gain. Here we explored whether emotional dispositions--trait tendencies to experience positive or negative feelings--shape the rejection of unfair financial offers. Participants played an Ultimatum Game, where the division of a sum of money is proposed and the player can accept or reject this offer. Individuals high in trait positivity and low in trait negativity rejected more unfair offers. These relationships could not be explained by existing accounts which argue that rejection behaviour results from a failure to regulate negative emotions, or serves to arbitrate social relationships and identity. Instead, the relationship between dispositional affect and rejection behaviour may be underpinned by perceived self worth, with those of a positive disposition believing that they are "worth more than that" and those of a negative disposition resigning themselves to "taking the crumbs from under the table".
人们对不公平现象反应强烈，有时即使这会牺牲个人经济利益，他们也会拒绝不公平的提议。在这里，我们探讨了情绪倾向——体验积极或消极情绪的特质倾向——是否会影响对不公平财务提议的拒绝。参与者玩了一个最后通牒博弈，在这个博弈中，有人提议分配一笔钱，而玩家可以接受或拒绝这个提议。特质积极情绪高、特质消极情绪低的个体拒绝了更多不公平的提议。这些关系不能用现有的解释来说明，这些解释认为拒绝行为是由于无法调节负面情绪，或者是为了仲裁社会关系和身份。相反，性格特质与拒绝行为之间的关系可能是基于感知到的自我价值，具有积极性格的人认为自己“值更多”，而具有消极性格的人则只能“接受桌下的残羹剩饭”。
