Investigating the effects of social information on spite in an online game

Watson, Robin; Morgan, Thomas; Kendal, Rachel; Van de Vyver, Julie; Kendal, Jeremy

Abstract

While humans are highly cooperative, they can also behave spitefully. Yet spite remains understudied. Spite can be normatively driven and while previous experiments have found some evidence that cooperation and punishment may spread via social learning, no experiments have considered the social transmission of spiteful behaviour. Here we present an online experiment where, following an opportunity to earn wealth, we asked participants to choose an action towards an anonymous partner across a full spectrum of social behaviour, from spite to altruism. In accordance with cultural evolutionary theory, participants were presented with social information that varied in source and content. Across six conditions, we informed participants that either the majority or the highest earner had chosen to behave spitefully, neutrally or altruistically. We found an overall tendency towards altruism, but at lower levels among those exposed to spite compared with altruism. We found no difference between social information that came from the majority or the highest earner. Exploratory analysis revealed that participants' earnings negatively correlated with altruistic behaviour. Our results contrast with previous literature that report high rates of spite in experimental samples and a greater propensity for individuals to copy successful individuals over the majority.

Citation

Watson, R., Morgan, T., Kendal, R., Van de Vyver, J., & Kendal, J. (2024). Investigating the effects of social information on spite in an online game. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 6, Article e26. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2024.18

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 27, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Apr 12, 2024
• Publication Date: Apr 12, 2024
• Deposit Date: Apr 9, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: May 13, 2024
• Journal: Evolutionary Human Sciences
• Electronic ISSN: 2513-843X
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Article Number: e26
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2024.18
• Keywords: Punishment, Social Learning, Altruism, Social Behaviour, Spite
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2380701
• PMID: 38689896