The social dilemma called the anticommons dilemma represents a context in which a scarce resource has multiple owners who can exclude one another from harvesting from that resource. Not much...Show moreThe social dilemma called the anticommons dilemma represents a context in which a scarce resource has multiple owners who can exclude one another from harvesting from that resource. Not much attention has been paid to factors that lead to non-cooperative decisions in this context. Consequently, the present study investigates how the salience of collective consequences (externalities awareness) influences (non-)cooperative choice behavior in people differing in social value orientations (SVO). After SVO was measured and one of the two externalities awareness conditions was presented, the participants (N = 168) had to indicate a minimum price to give a co-owner access to the resource (WTA) in a modified anticommons paradigm. It was expected that when externalities were made salient individuals would display higher levels of cooperation, by indicating lower WTA’s, compared to when externalities were not made salient. Moreover, it was expected that when externalities were not made salient prosocials would display higher levels of cooperation than proselfs, whereas when externalities were made salient this difference would be smaller. Although the effect of externalities awareness and the interaction effect of this factor with SVO was non-significant, exploratory analyses indicated severe underuse of the common resource. The limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are discussed.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Rules regulate society as they help to predict social interactions. Groups, however, do not always abide by rules. Instead, they break them when the conditions are right. Here we hypothesized that...Show moreRules regulate society as they help to predict social interactions. Groups, however, do not always abide by rules. Instead, they break them when the conditions are right. Here we hypothesized that rule abidance behavior is determined by a) an individual choosing another for mutual benefit based on their reputation and b) the social-environmental incentives like fairness and dishonesty. We had three participants building a reputation for their willingness to abide by or break rules. A fourth participant used that information to choose one to three participants, then played several rounds of a dictator game and a die-roll task. Participants were chosen more often when their reputation was in line with environmental incentives, where merely transitioning from one environment to another strengthened that effect. Regulators should therefore ensure the consistency and kinds of environmental incentives that individuals in power positions face across environments for controlling resulting rule abidance behavior.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
closed access
Previous research investigating the factors that shape a person’s degree of intergroup prejudice has focused primarily on relatively high level ideological and personality traits. In a largely...Show morePrevious research investigating the factors that shape a person’s degree of intergroup prejudice has focused primarily on relatively high level ideological and personality traits. In a largely separate body of work, psychophysiological predispositions towards threat sensitivity have been linked to ideological constructs. The current work integrates these two bodies of work by introducing a novel approach to measure implicit threat sensitivity and (theoretically) linking it to intergroup prejudice. Specifically, it was investigated whether individual differences in cognitively assessed sensitivity to threatening information were associated with a greater degree of implicit bias and explicit prejudice towards a stereotypically threatening minority-group (i.e., Muslims). While results did not support a relationship between threat sensitivity and intergroup prejudice, exploratory data, as well as limitations and implications of the current work, encourage future research.Show less
Previous research suggests that both observability and dependence (having a reliant other subgroup in a collective) are influential factors, in promoting prosocial behaviour in social dilemmas....Show morePrevious research suggests that both observability and dependence (having a reliant other subgroup in a collective) are influential factors, in promoting prosocial behaviour in social dilemmas. This study explores the influence of observability, dependence and a combination of both, on volunteering within the Volunteer’s Dilemma (VoD). It was hypothesized that observation and dependence would increase volunteering, with the combination of both factors being the most effective in increasing volunteering. For the dependence conditions, it was further hypothesized, based on previous research, that participants would identify more with a superordinate identity, and that this would correlate with increased volunteering. However, both the observability and dependence conditions did not significantly increase volunteering behaviour, when compared to a control, whilst the observability & dependence condition had a negative correlation with volunteering. Participants also identified more with the subordinate identity, which was found to be significantly negatively correlated to volunteeringShow less
‘Perceived psychological contract violation’ refers to the idea of members of organizations that the organization does not meet their expectations, and is predicted to have negative consequences...Show more‘Perceived psychological contract violation’ refers to the idea of members of organizations that the organization does not meet their expectations, and is predicted to have negative consequences for organizations. Accordingly, this study examined among financial donors of charitable organizations a) whether violation of the psychological contract undermines the willingness to donate money to the charitable organization, and b) the psychological processes that may make financial donors perceive a violation of the psychological contract. The research participants were members of the Amazon Mechanical Turk online platform who adopted the role of financial donor (n = 91). The research had a consecutive 1X2 experimental design. Specifically, the participants were first randomly allocated across the experimental condition about investment of the organization in helping its clientele and sustaining the relationship with donors (high/low). Thereafter, those participants who had been assigned to the ‘low investment condition’ were randomly allocated across an experimental condition about justification for the low investment (yes/no). As predicted, ANOVAs showed that financial donors who were presented information about low investment of the organization in helping its clientele and sustaining the relationship with donors reported the least perceived organizational reciprocity, integrity, and transparency. A second ANOVA indicated that for the participants allocated to the ‘low direct investment’-condition, the justification for the low investment did not influence perceived organizational reciprocity, integrity or transparency. Further, moderation regression analysis showed that the trust of financial donors in the charity does not weaken the negative effects of low investment on perceived organizational reciprocity, integrity or transparency. Finally, regression analyses showed that among financial donors, perceived non-reciprocity and non-integrity of the organization instill perceived psychological contract violation as a predictor of willingness to donate, negative word-of-mouth, and perceived organizational prestige. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and suggestions for new research are discussed.Show less
If we know what contributes to a better relationship quality, we have the opportunity to improve our relationships. The aim of this study was to find an effect of listening technique on...Show moreIf we know what contributes to a better relationship quality, we have the opportunity to improve our relationships. The aim of this study was to find an effect of listening technique on relationship quality and to uncover if this relationship is moderated by confidence. The 60 participants were randomly assigned to listening technique conditions. Either an active, neutral, or argumentative listening technique was applied. Discussions within each condition were held by a confederate via Skype. Unexpectedly, confidence had no effect on the effect of listening technique on relationship quality. Excitingly, in this study active- and argumentative listening led to better relationship quality in comparison to neutral listening. If implemented properly, listening techniques could have a positive effect on how you are perceived by othersShow less
Currently social media is used daily by a lot of people it is important to know what influences people’s social media behavior. This study investigates which variables influence people’s sharing...Show moreCurrently social media is used daily by a lot of people it is important to know what influences people’s social media behavior. This study investigates which variables influence people’s sharing behavior of videos of someone’s misfortune. The hypotheses are based on the stereotype content model which categorizes people on warmth vs cold and competent vs incompetent. The hypothesis are researched by showing 4 videos to 150 participants. There were four different conditions, each unique for the quadrants of the stereotype content model. The results show that schadenfreude is positively related with sharing videos. Schadenfreude arises when people feel envious about the person in the video and when the misfortune is felt as deserved. Besides this, there is also more schadenfreude felt in the condition in which the persons are perceived as cold and competent rather than warm and competent. In the discussion implications and further research are discussed.Show less
Videos of someone who has an accident are frequently shared on social media, but why do people share these? We expected schadenfreude and video sharing to be related, based on the need to share and...Show moreVideos of someone who has an accident are frequently shared on social media, but why do people share these? We expected schadenfreude and video sharing to be related, based on the need to share and talk about it. In addition, we expected envy, deservedness, and expectancy to correlate with schadenfreude. We looked at the interaction of warmth and competence, to see in which quadrant of the Stereotype Content Model (Fiske et al., 2002) the most schadenfreude is experienced. We manipulated the conditions using the SCM, resulting in a two (warm, cold) by two (incompetent, competent) model. The results showed that schadenfreude is related to video sharing, envy, and deservedness, but not to expectancy. Besides this, an interaction of warmth and competence has been found on the variable schadenfreude, which shows that the warm incompetent group (e.g. elderly) and the cold competent group (e.g. wealthy people) evoke more schadenfreude.Show less
The success of groups relies on cooperation. Diversity within a group undermines cooperation. The promising solution to increase cooperation is punishment. However, studies mostly used homogenous...Show moreThe success of groups relies on cooperation. Diversity within a group undermines cooperation. The promising solution to increase cooperation is punishment. However, studies mostly used homogenous groups. The objective was to answer the question if punishments systems are effective in enhancing cooperation in diverse groups. Data for this study were collected using an online experiment where the participants had to decide how many monetary units to contribute to the common pool. Diverse groups were created by two subgroups: Democrats and Republicans. Participants were randomly divided over two conditions; in one condition the third-party punishers made a strategy applying to everyone and in the other a strategy based on group membership. The findings suggest that punishment is less effective if discrimination is possible. A recommendation for organizations is that the use of punishment in diverse groups can be effective if the receiver does not expect to be discriminated against.Show less
Community compensation may be offered in return for the adverse local costs of wind farms. In this experimental scenario study, 361 British participants took the position of a resident facing this...Show moreCommunity compensation may be offered in return for the adverse local costs of wind farms. In this experimental scenario study, 361 British participants took the position of a resident facing this hypothetical situation. They learned that the project developer had a positive or negative reputation, and that compensation was being offered by one of three approaches: voluntarily, institutionalized through law, or by a mix of the latter with local involvement in the decision regarding compensation amount. Regardless of the project developer’s reputation, it was predicted that the mixed approach would result in higher local wind farm acceptance, compared to the other approaches. The local acceptance level was expected to be moderated by reputation for the voluntary approach: with a negative reputation leading to lower local acceptance compared to the fully institutionalized approach. Finally, the effects of project developer reputation and compensation approach on local wind farm acceptance were predicted to be mediated by perceptions of bribery and local involvement. The results demonstrated that voluntarily providing compensation led to greater local wind farm acceptance than institutionalizing compensation, whilst the mixed approach did not differ from either approach. When a negative reputation was made salient, the mixed approach resulted in greater bribery perceptions than both of the other approaches. Lastly, a partial mediation indicated the importance of project developer reputation for wind farm sitings: with a positive reputation found to elicit lower bribery perceptions, higher perceived involvement, and as a result, greater overall local wind farm acceptance, than a negative reputation.Show less
The present study explores the effect of externalities awareness and Social Value Orientation (SVO) in anticommons dilemmas. Making participants of an anticommons game aware of externalities was...Show moreThe present study explores the effect of externalities awareness and Social Value Orientation (SVO) in anticommons dilemmas. Making participants of an anticommons game aware of externalities was expected to increase cooperation, by decreasing their willingnessto-accept (WTA) values, i.e. the amount they would be willing to accept in order to allow other individuals to make use of the resource. The results of the computer-based anticommons game (N = 167) did not support this hypothesis. However, the results did show, as predicted, that the more prosocial participants were, the more easily they allowed access to the resource by setting lower willingness-to-accept (WTA) values. Additionally, the hypothesized interaction effect between externalities awareness and Social Value Orientation (SVO) was not confirmed. Proselfs’ behavior did not change significantly more than prosocials’, after they got aware of the externalities. Finally, the negative effects of uncertainty in cooperation are discussed.Show less
Gentle dominance is a motive for a group with a relative higher status to seek help from a group with a relative lower status. It combines a desire to improve the relationship between the groups,...Show moreGentle dominance is a motive for a group with a relative higher status to seek help from a group with a relative lower status. It combines a desire to improve the relationship between the groups, while trying to maintain the superior position of the high-status group. This could also distract the low-status group from the status difference. We expected that in order for gentle dominance to occur, the status difference between the two groups should not be likely to change (stable) and the two groups should have to share a part of their identities (common identity). To test this, we set up an online survey in which participants read a description of a situation in which the stability and identity of a pair of high- and low-status groups was manipulated. In this scenario the high-status group had to ask for help from the low-status group. The participants (N = 212), who served as observers of this situation, had to indicate on a questionnaire to what extent different possible motives for asking for help applied to the situation. The motives were: Gentle dominance, inclusion, superiority, actual help, assistance and exploitation. For each of the six motives an ANOVA on stability and identity was carried out and no significant effects were found. We concluded that stability and identity did not have an effect on the perception of the six motives. This is possibly because participants were not directly involved in the scenario. Further research is needed on this relatively new topic.Show less
In everyday life, people have developed tendencies to either approach or avoid certain stimuli. Approach tendencies are elicited by positive stimuli, while avoidance tendencies are elicited by...Show moreIn everyday life, people have developed tendencies to either approach or avoid certain stimuli. Approach tendencies are elicited by positive stimuli, while avoidance tendencies are elicited by negative stimuli. This is called the approach-avoidance effect. In high-performance environments, approach and avoidance tendencies play a decisive role in succeeding or failing, or, in extreme cases, in living or dying. Moreover, in these environments, approach and avoidance tendencies are often present under self-relevant pressure. Hence, this research studied the effects of self-relevant pressure on approach and avoidance tendencies. Based on existing literature from the field of decision-making psychology and performance psychology, we hypothesized that we would replicate the approach-avoidance effect. Also, we expected that pressure would impair participants’ performance and would influence the approach-avoidance effect. Fifty-one participants completed the mobile approach-avoidance task (AAT), once with and once without pressure, and filled out a pressure questionnaire after each mobile AAT. In the mobile AAT, participants were shown pictures of happy and sad faces and were asked to push or pull them according to specific instructions. We indeed replicated the approach-avoidance effect (p < .001). However, our pressure manipulation was unsuccessful. Hence, participants did not perform worse under self-relevant pressure. Subsequently, we did not find that pressure influenced the approach-avoidance effect. Although most of the hypotheses were rejected due to the failed pressure manipulation, the present study is a springboard for future research on decision-making under self-relevant pressure. Finally, implications are discussed and directions for future research are provided.Show less
