Cooperation in social groups: cheater perception and memory in intergroup contexts
General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
Final Report Abstract
Cooperation is a pervasive feature in human groups. Cooperative behavior bears a risk of being a victim of cheating. To ensure high levels of cooperation, people have to perceive and remember cheating in order to punish or avoid the cheater in the future. In this project, we successfully extended research on detection and memory for cheaters from an interpersonal to an intergroup context. Three studies of the first research series (N = 377) showed that participants have an enhanced memory for ingroup cheaters, but not outgroup cheaters. Ingroup identification (psychological meaning of the ingroup) and authoritarian tendencies (focus on deviant behavior) foster the better memory for ingroup cheaters. According to recent findings, we suppose that expectancyincongruity with ingroup positivity and homogeneous representation of groups might cause the enhanced memory for ingroup cheaters. A second line of research systematically disentangled the roles of cheaters and their victims, and their group memberships. Studies (N = 412) show that anger about misdeeds is elicited by the perpetrator’s bad intent, but less by the consequences for the victims. Further studies (N = 428) demonstrate that an interaction between only outgroup members elicits emotional and behavioral reactions, irrespective of involvement with perpetrator or victim. Thus, next to group-based emotions, moral emotions play a crucial role in the evaluation of cheaters. These reactions vary in terms of group membership of cheater and victim. In a third line of research, we examined the role of attention and eye-gaze for cooperation and cheater detection in intergroup contexts. Results show that cooperation is focused in interactions with ingroup members, but less in interactions with outgroup members. In sum, our research refines the understanding of detecting, memorizing, and dealing with cheaters with a particular focus on the maintenance of cooperation within one’s ingroup. 2017, January 8. Betrüger vergisst man nicht – Man erinnert sich besser an Menschen, die sich unfreundlich verhalten. Warum ist das so? Welt am Sonntag, pp. 20 (S. Brech) 2016, December 21. Psychologie: Menschen merken sich Betrüger besonders gut. Hamburger Abendblatt (http://www.abendblatt.de/ratgeber/wissen/article209048729/Psychologie-Menschen-merken-sich-Betrueger-besonders-gut.html) 2016, December 20. Betrüger bleiben besser im Gedächtnis. Psychologen untersuchen den Einfluss sozialer Kategorisierung beim Erinnern. Pressemitteilung der Universität Jena (S. Hollbach) (https://www.uni-jena.de/Forschungsmeldungen/FM161220_Erinnerungskategorien.html)
Publications
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(2016). Divorcing the puzzles: When group identities foster ingroup cooperation. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39, e23
Seewald, D., Hechler, S., & Kessler, T.
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(2016). The infamous among us: Enhanced reputational memory for uncooperative ingroup members. Cognition, 157, 1-13
Hechler, S., Neyer, F. J., & Kessler, T.
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Talking to others: The importance of responsibility attributions by observers. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences (commentary to Doris, J.M. on Talking to Our Selves: Reflection, Ignorance, and Agency)
Hechler, S. & Kessler, T.
