When Kindness Meets a Selfish Streak

New studies suggest that one’s individual actions majorly dictate how they perceive and react to others in competitive, zero-sum scenarios.

Altruistic individuals tend to favor and reward like-minded generosity, while self-centered individuals often penalize generous actions and praise selfishness, even when it costs them personally.

The study emphasizes that an individual’s personal actions, whether altruistic or selfish, are more influential than the behaviors and attitudes they observe in others.

These insights have been shared in the Cognitive Science journal.

Past investigations had proposed that societal norms predominantly steer an individual’s choices during competitions.

According to Paul Bogdan, a doctoral student from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and part of the study, the accepted belief was that individuals crafted expectations based on observed behaviors.

“If everyone around me is selfish, then I’m going to learn to accept selfishness and behave accordingly,” Bogdan explains. “But we show that your judgments of other people’s behavior really depend on how you behave yourself.”

To unravel the dynamics influencing decisions and behaviors, the team used the Ultimatum Game. This game involves a proposer suggesting a split of a $10 pot, with the receiver deciding to accept or decline the proposed split.

If declined, neither party gets any money. The decision to reject can be seen as a punitive measure, impacting both participants.

The research observed that altruistic individuals gravitated towards fair offers, while those inclined to self-centeredness embraced selfish offers, even when it wasn’t in their best financial interest. The participants’ alternating roles as receivers and proposers facilitated insights into their personal behaviors and perceptions of fellow players.

Subsequent tests revealed a tendency among individuals, whether generous or selfish, to resonate with those who reflected their own behavior, irrespective of financial outcomes.

Bogdan noted, “Participants will gain more money with a generous person. But a selfish person will prefer to play with someone who behaves as they do. People really like others who are similar to themselves – to a shocking degree.”

Analyzing data from an earlier study comparing cultural behaviors around resource-sharing, the team discerned that individuals’ punitive actions were largely influenced by their inherent behavior, rather than societal conformity.

Altruistic individuals penalized selfish behaviors, whereas self-focused individuals penalized acts of generosity.

While societal norms do play a part in influencing behavior, Florin Dolcos emphasized, “But we are not only observers. This study is showing that we filter information about the world through our own view.”

Individuals transitioning from altruism to self-centeredness started penalizing generosity only after their transformation, the study noted.

Florin Dolcos elaborated on this alignment, saying, “You may have groups of selfish people who are more accepting of other selfish people, and in order to be part of that group, newcomers might display the same behavior.”

Conclusively, Sanda Dolcos stated that the findings underscore that one’s inherent nature—be it generosity or selfishness—holds significant sway in multiple life scenarios.

“This is not just about decision-making. It has practical relevance to many types of social interactions and social evaluations.”

Source: 10.1111/cogs.13326 

Image Credit: Shutterstock