The Syntax of Defection and Cooperation: The Effects of the Implicit Sentences Nice Act Versus Act Nice on Behavior Change.

ABSTRACT: The syntactic organization of incidentally presented word pairs may affect behavior by providing actors with implicit propositions about how to behave. In Experiment 1, participants who had already played turns of a mixed-motive game were less cooperative after an explicit propositional suggestion that they had been nice in prior turns but were more cooperative after the suggestion that they should be nice in upcoming turns. In three subsequent experiments, implicit priming with the phrase nice act produced greater levels of defection, implying that actors responded to the implicit suggestion that they had been sufficiently nice already. In contrast, act nice produced greater levels of cooperation, implying that actors responded to the implicit suggestion

SUBMITTER: Albarracin D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4829379 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature