Emotion Regulation in the Prisoner’s Dilemma: Effects of Reappraisal on Behavioral Measures and Cardiovascular Measures of Challenge and Threat

Abstract

The current study examines cooperation and cardiovascular responses in individuals that were defected on by their opponent in the first round of an iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma. In this scenario, participants were either primed with the emotion regulation strategy of reappraisal or no emotion regulation strategy, and their opponent either expressed an amused smile or a polite smile after the results were presented. We found that cooperation behavior decreased in the no emotion regulation group when the opponent expressed an amused smile compared to a polite smile. In the cardiovascular measures, we found significant differences between the emotion regulation conditions using the biopsychosocial (BPS) model of challenge and threat. However, the cardiovascular measures of participants instructed with the reappraisal strategy were only weakly comparable with a threat state of the BPS model, which involves decreased blood flow and perception of greater task demands than resources to cope with those demands. Conversely, the cardiovascular measures of participants without an emotion regulation were only weakly comparable with a challenge state of the BPS model, which involves increased blood flow and perception of having enough or more resources to cope with task demands.

If your device could smile: People trust happy-sounding artificial agents more

“…This corroborates previous findings in nonconscious mimicry, whereby facial EMG recordings were different when viewing a face with a Duchenne smile and a neutral expression, but not when viewing a face with a non-Duchenne smile and a neutral expression (Surakka & Hietanen, 1998). This contrasts with Chu et al (2019), who found that participants cooperated more with a confederate expressing a non-Duchenne smile, than with a confederate expressing a Duchenne smile, following a breach of trust. However, in this study the confederate only showed the smiling expression after the cooperate/defect decision was made, whereas in Krumhuber et al (2007), Reed et al (2012), as well as in the current study, the smiling expression was displayed before the decision was made.…”

“…However, much of the research on the effect of different types of smiles on person perception and decision making has concentrated on the difference between polite (non-Duchenne) and genuine (Duchenne) smiles (e.g. Chu et al, 2019;Krumhuber et al, 2007;Reed et al, 2012). Traditionally, these two are characterized by different muscle activation, with non-Duchenne smiles only activating the Zygomaticus Major muscle, and Duchenne smiles also activating the Orbicularis Oculi muscle (Frank, Ekman, & Friesen, 1993).…”

“…However, in this study the confederate only showed the smiling expression after the cooperate/defect decision was made, whereas in Krumhuber et al (2007), Reed et al (2012), as well as in the current study, the smiling expression was displayed before the decision was made. As Chu et al (2019) point out, this factor might have influenced the decisions and could explain the different behaviors. For example, participants might interpret an emotional expression -such as a smile -after a decision as being an appraisal of that decision.…”

Socio-Economic Decision Making and Emotion Elicitation with a Serious Game in the Wild

“…Lastly, the interaction is designed as such that the player chooses to help an NPC (let us call it prisoner-NPC) to complete the final task's objective and by being associated with the prisoner-NPC, the player becomes an accomplice in the eyes of the second NPC (let us call it the jailer-NPC). This interaction is specifically designed to orchestrate a betrayal from the prisoner-NPC, which is supposed to elicit a high valence of negative emotional response [170]. Figure 6 shows a part of the dialogue between the prisoner NPC for this interaction and the player character, while Figure 7 shows a part of the dialogue between the jailer NPC for this interaction and the player's character, explaining the rules of the interaction.…”