The selfish nature in interpersonal exchange among adolescents: imposing the kind and submitting to the exploitative

Abstract

Bullying events during adolescence are common, yet it remains largely unclear which kinds of behavioral patterns are more likely to result in being exploited. Leveraging recent advances in computational modeling and experimental economics, this study examines whether being nice or tough during early social interactions will impact future interactions. Adolescents were randomly assigned to play a cooperation game with two different simulated partners. We found that participants were more likely to cooperate with the initially tough partner than with the initially nice partner. Computational modeling revealed that behavioral changes were driven by changes in perceived social rewards from reciprocity. Perceived social rewards mediated the effects of different partners on the participants cooperative behaviors. The results indicate that being nice is not a good strategy for building social cooperation, and advance our knowledge of how adolescents form sustained social relationships with peers and may have implications for the education field.