How do outcome-based competitive relationships shape future risky cooperation?

Abstract

There is growing evidence that cooperative behavior between individuals is regulated by their experience of previous interactions with others. However, it is unclear how a relationship that stems from the evaluation of outcomes from competitive interactions can affect subsequent cooperation between these individuals. To address this issue, we examined how participants cooperated with a partner having just competed with them. While competing, participants (N = 164) were randomly assigned to receive one of four types of outcome feedback regarding their performance (win vs. loss vs. uncertain vs. control). We found that both the experience of loss and of uncertainty as competitive outcomes exerted a negative impact on the extent to which participants then engaged in mutually cooperative behavior toward their opponents. Moreover, these effects operated in a context-dependent manner: they were only found when we manipulated the relational context to imply a high potential for incurring personal costs rather than imply no risk for incurring personal costs and mutual gains. Finally, our mediation analysis further revealed that the effect of the loss outcome was mediated by the intention of participants to cooperate and their level of interpersonal trust, while the effect of uncertain competitive outcome was mediated only by the extent to which participants intended to cooperate. This suggests the presence of distinct psychological processes underlying the effects of these two types of competitive outcome. Taken together, these finding offer novel insight into how risky cooperation may cascade from previous exposure to competitive settings.