Rahal Rima-Maria, Schulze Spüntrup Frederik
Behavioral Law and Economics, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn 53133, Germany.
Institute for Cognition and Behavior, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Wien 1020, Austria.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Aug 12;122(32):e2417456122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2417456122. Epub 2025 Aug 5.
Whether and to what degree culture modifies cognition has been an area of research often limited by possibilities to gather relevant data across societies. In this project, we leverage webcam-based eye-tracking to study cultural variations of cognitive processes underlying in-group favoritism. Participants (n = 1850, k = 20) are assigned to an in-group based on a color perception task, complete a group reinforcement stage, and then make decisions to allocate points between themselves and random matched players in a repeated decomposed dictator game, facing either an in- or an out-group member. During this task, we recorded eye-gaze with participants' webcams. Results show substantial variation in behavioral in-group favoritism across cultures, linking discrimination based on group membership to higher societal uncertainty. Individual preferences for prosociality conditioned differences in visual search effort, but the directionality of the effect differs between countries. Individual-level predictors explained participants remaining colorblind toward others' group membership, where society-level predictors did not. Overall, we demonstrate the importance of taking culture into account when assessing cognitive processes underlying behavior. Implications for globally oriented policymaking to reduce discrimination are discussed.
文化是否以及在何种程度上会改变认知,一直是一个研究领域,常常受到跨社会收集相关数据可能性的限制。在这个项目中,我们利用基于网络摄像头的眼动追踪技术来研究内群体偏袒背后认知过程的文化差异。参与者(n = 1850,k = 20)根据颜色感知任务被分配到一个内群体,完成一个群体强化阶段,然后在一个重复的分解独裁者博弈中,面对内群体或外群体成员,做出在自己和随机匹配玩家之间分配点数的决策。在这个任务过程中,我们用参与者的网络摄像头记录他们的目光注视。结果显示,跨文化的行为内群体偏袒存在显著差异,将基于群体成员身份的歧视与更高的社会不确定性联系起来。个体对亲社会行为的偏好调节了视觉搜索努力的差异,但这种影响的方向性在不同国家有所不同。个体层面的预测因素解释了参与者对他人群体成员身份保持无视,而社会层面的预测因素则不然。总体而言,我们证明了在评估行为背后的认知过程时考虑文化的重要性。讨论了对旨在减少歧视的全球导向型政策制定的影响。