Imada Hirotaka, Inoue Yukako, Yamamoto-Wilson Alice, Saijo Tatsuyoshi, Mifune Nobuhiro
Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
Research Institute for Future Design, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi, Japan.
Commun Psychol. 2025 Jun 6;3(1):89. doi: 10.1038/s44271-025-00272-z.
Issues related to sustainability (e.g., climate change and over-fishing) often manifest themselves as intergenerational social dilemmas, where people are faced with a choice between self-serving, unsustainable behavior and sustainable, personally costly behavior. Extending the previous literature on (non-intergenerational) intergroup cooperation, we tested whether group membership of the future generations influenced sustainable decision-making. In two preregistered studies using the intergenerational sustainability dilemma game, we found that individuals were more likely to make a sustainable (vs. selfish) decision when they believed that their current behavior would benefit future ingroup members, whereas more selfish decisions were made when benefits would accrue to outgroup members. These findings held in both the minimal group (Study 1: N = 1393) and national group (Study 2: Japan vs. China, N = 1781) contexts. The effect of ingroup intergenerational membership on cooperation was mediated by higher felt responsibility for future generations in both minimal and national group contexts. The effect of outgroup membership on intergenerational cooperation was mediated by a reduced sense of reputational concern in the minimal group context and by reduced affinity, legacy motivation, and responsibility for future generations in the nationality context.
与可持续性相关的问题(如气候变化和过度捕捞)常常表现为代际社会困境,即人们面临着在自私、不可持续的行为与可持续但个人代价高昂的行为之间做出选择。在先前关于(非代际)群体间合作的文献基础上,我们测试了后代的群体成员身份是否会影响可持续决策。在两项使用代际可持续性困境博弈的预注册研究中,我们发现,当个体认为其当前行为会使未来的内群体成员受益时,他们更有可能做出可持续(而非自私)的决策;而当利益将归于外群体成员时,则会做出更自私的决策。这些发现在最小群体情境(研究1:N = 1393)和国家群体情境(研究2:日本与中国,N = 1781)中均成立。在最小群体和国家群体情境中,内群体代际成员身份对合作的影响均通过对后代更高的责任感来介导。在外群体成员身份对代际合作的影响方面,在最小群体情境中,其通过声誉关注感的降低来介导;在国籍情境中,则通过亲和力、传承动机和对后代责任感的降低来介导。