Kuper-Smith Benjamin J, Korn Christoph W
Section Social Neuroscience, Department of General Psychiatry, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Commun Psychol. 2025 Jul 24;3(1):114. doi: 10.1038/s44271-025-00288-5.
Social interactions lead to outcomes for oneself and others, which can be gains or losses. Yet, it is unclear how exactly people's social decisions are affected by whether an outcome is above or below zero. We systematically varied whether the outcomes of social dilemmas (Prisoner's Dilemma, Stag Hunt, Chicken) were gains, losses, or combinations thereof. Across seven experiments (4 preregistered; N = 197, N = 1653), participants tried to avoid losses altogether (loss avoidance), but there was no consistent evidence that they tried to minimize losses (loss aversion). If cooperation avoided losses, people cooperated more; if defection avoided losses, people defected more, even if this imposed a loss on the other person. Our results suggest that cooperation and social interactions can be influenced systematically if the situation allows people to avoid losses.
社会互动会给自身和他人带来结果，这些结果可能是收益或损失。然而，目前尚不清楚人们的社会决策究竟是如何受到结果高于或低于零的影响的。我们系统地改变了社会困境（囚徒困境、猎鹿博弈、懦夫博弈）的结果是收益、损失还是两者的组合。在七个实验中（4个预先注册；N = 197，N = 1653），参与者试图完全避免损失（损失规避），但没有一致的证据表明他们试图将损失最小化（损失厌恶）。如果合作能避免损失，人们就会更多地合作；如果背叛能避免损失，人们就会更多地背叛，即使这会给他人带来损失。我们的结果表明，如果情况允许人们避免损失，合作和社会互动可能会受到系统的影响。
