The cognitive basis of social behavior: cognitive reflection overrides antisocial but not always prosocial motives.

ABSTRACT: Even though human social behavior has received considerable scientific attention in the last decades, its cognitive underpinnings are still poorly understood. Applying a dual-process framework to the study of social preferences, we show in two studies that individuals with a more reflective/deliberative cognitive style, as measured by scores on the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), are more likely to make choices consistent with "mild" altruism in simple non-strategic decisions. Such choices increase social welfare by increasing the other person's payoff at very low or no cost for the individual. The choices of less reflective individuals (i.e., those who rely more heavily on intuition), on the other hand, are more likely to be associated with either egalitarian or spiteful motives. We also

SUBMITTER: Corgnet B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4633515 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature