Leiden University Student Repository

Weinchard, Kayatana (2022)

Favouring the ingroup or equality for all? The effectiveness of reward systems on cooperation in pluriform groups

Master thesis | Psychology (MSc)

This study focused on the effect of rewards on the cooperative behaviour of individuals when they were part of a mixed group containing both democrats and republicans. There were two conditions, in the first condition the participants were told they could receive a different amount of reward, based on their political preference. In the second condition, this differential treatment was impossible, and all group members received the same amount of reward. It was expected that participants would cooperate more in the condition where they could be favoured by the reward-giver who shared their same political preferences. The study outcomes showed the opposite effect: individuals cooperated more when rewarding implied an equal treatment for all compared to when there was a possibility of being favoured.

ingroup

outgroup

cooperation

equality

Author

Weinchard, Kayatana

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Social and Organizational Psychology

Supervisors

Molenmaker, W.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en