Baranski Andrzej, Haas Nicholas
Division of Social Science and Center for Behavioral Institutional Design, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates.
Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 7, Aarhus 8000, Central Denmark Region, Denmark.
PNAS Nexus. 2025 Jan 28;4(1):pgae553. doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae553. eCollection 2025 Jan.
Primates are known to engage in exclusionary behavior, forming alliances to block a minority from accessing scarce resources. Humans are no exception, and examples of exclusionary behavior abound in political, business, and social settings. However, despite its socio-economic relevance, little is known about the prevalence and determinants of such behavior worldwide. Conducting an experimental game in which a group divides resources by majority rule, we document considerable global heterogeneity in exclusionary behavior. Whereas exclusion is modal in some countries, inclusive behavior is the norm in others. Despite significant cross-country variability, we nevertheless find that individual-level characteristics matter similarly across contexts. Men, individuals with a deliberative reasoning style, and ideologically right-leaning individuals, are consistently and substantially more exclusionary. Cross-country differences in the formation of exclusionary alliances correlate with an original Hierarchy Tolerance Index, derived from variables measuring cultural acceptance of power inequalities. Our findings carry important implications for decision-making bodies, as they indicate that the identity of decision-makers and the culture in which they are embedded can affect how equitably resources are divided.
灵长类动物素有排他行为，会结成联盟以阻止少数群体获取稀缺资源。人类也不例外，排他行为在政治、商业和社会环境中比比皆是。然而，尽管这种行为具有社会经济相关性，但全球范围内这种行为的普遍程度和决定因素却鲜为人知。我们开展了一个实验性博弈，让一个群体按照多数决规则分配资源，结果记录了排他行为在全球范围内存在相当大的异质性。在一些国家，排他行为是常态，而在另一些国家，包容行为才是规范。尽管存在显著的跨国差异，但我们发现个体层面的特征在不同背景下的影响大致相同。男性、具有审慎推理风格的个体以及意识形态上偏右的个体，始终且明显更具排他性。排他联盟形成的跨国差异与一个最初的等级容忍指数相关，该指数源自衡量对权力不平等文化接受程度的变量。我们的研究结果对决策机构具有重要意义，因为这表明决策者的身份以及他们所处的文化会影响资源分配的公平程度。
