Towards a Biopsychological Understanding of Costly Punishment: The Role of Basal Cortisol

Pfattheicher, Stefan; Keller, Johannes

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085691

Cited by 21 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…First, documenting a positive relation between prevention focus and reputational concerns suggests that individual differences in prevention focus play a significant role in regards to the factors that are important for the evolution of cooperation (Fehr and Gächter 2002;Pfattheicher and Schindler, in press;Pfattheicher and Keller 2014). This complements the picture drawn by previous research showing that individual differences in prevention focus predict another important factor in the evolution of cooperation, that is, costly punishment of uncooperative interaction partners (Fehr and Gächter 2002;Pfattheicher and Keller 2013).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

A regulatory focus perspective on reputational concerns: The impact of prevention-focused self-regulation

Pfattheicher

2015

Motiv Emot

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The hyper-sociality found in the human species is unequivocally manifested in their special sensitivity about reputation. In the present contribution, individuals' reputational concerns are examined from the perspective of one prominent motivational approach: regulatory focus theory. Specifically, individual differences in prevention and promotion focus are related to reputational concerns. Building on the assumption that prevention-focused individuals are sensitive to and concerned with oughts and social expectations, it is expected that prevention-focused individuals are particularly concerned regarding their reputation. In line with this assumption, Study 1 documents a positive relation between individual differences in prevention focus and reputational concerns (beyond the Big Five and perceived stress). In Study 2, individuals are exposed to a subtle reputation cue (i.e., stylized watching eyes). It is documented that prevention-focused individuals specifically react to this cue in that they donate more money when such a cue is present. This finding is replicated in an additional sample and shown to be independent of the Big Five. In sum, the present work contributes to a better understanding of basic motivational orientations regarding reputational concerns.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

A regulatory focus perspective on reputational concerns: The impact of prevention-focused self-regulation

Pfattheicher

2015

Motiv Emot

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“…The frames of these behaviors may interpret the inconsistency: the generous division in the dictator game and 3PC behavior were framed as positive reactions towards others. Nevertheless, the 2PP behavior in the ultimatum was framed as a negative reaction with the goal of reducing other's payment (Pfattheicher and Keller, 2014), even though the 2PP behavior was driven by a prosocial motivation of norm enforcement (Fehr and Gächter, 2002). Generally, social decision-making has emphasized the dual-process systems: an impulsive system that processes information automatically, unconsciously and effortlessly regarding cognitive resources; and a reflective system that processes information in a controlled, conscious and effortful way Deutsch, 2004, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Cortisol Reactivity Influences Prosocial Decision-Making: The Moderating Role of Sex and Empathic Concern

Zhang

Nater

2019

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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The fight and flight theory and the tend-and-befriend theory suggest two opposite behavioral stress responses, and heterogeneous research results revealed the importance of taking sex into account. The experiment was designed to investigate the effect of stress-related cortisol reactivity on subsequent prosocial decision-making behaviors, and the moderating role of sex and empathic concern (EC) in the process. Sixty-one healthy students (34 women, 27 men) underwent the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups (TSST-G) or the control condition. Subsequently, participants completed three economic tasks-the dictator game, the ultimatum game, and the third-party compensation game. Statistical analyses revealed a significant main effect of cortisol reactivity on individuals' third-party compensation behaviorssex. A sex-specific effect of stress-related cortisol change on prosocial behaviors was found, with men behaving more generously in the dictator game as stress-related cortisol reactivity increased. Furthermore, the level of EC was found to moderate the association between stressrelated cortisol change and prosocial behaviors, that individuals with a low level of EC reported more generosity and third-party compensation behaviors. Overall, the present study contributes to a better understanding of the behavioral stress responses, that individuals whose hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are highly activated in response to stress would exhibit tend-and-befriend responses, but only among men and those with a low level of EC.

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“…The findings in various studies, however, are inconsistent. Some studies show that low baseline cortisol or short-term decreases in cortisol are related to greater aggression and anti-social punishment (Alink et al, 2008;Platje et al, 2013;Pfattheicher and Keller, 2014) as well as reduced social affiliation (Berger et al, 2016), whereas other studies show that high cortisol is related greater aggressive behavior (increased cortisol reactivity, Geniole et al, 2011;exogenous cortisol administration: Böhnke et al, 2010). Another line of research on the dual-hormone hypothesis demonstrates that cortisol interacts with testosterone to predict status-relevant behaviors (Mehta and Prasad, 2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

Hormonal underpinnings of status conflict: Testosterone and cortisol are related to decisions and satisfaction in the hawk-dove game

Mehta

DesJardins

Vugt

et al. 2017

Hormones and Behavior

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A contribution to a special issue on Hormones and Human Competition.Testosterone is theorized to influence status-seeking behaviors such as social dominance and competitive behavior, but supporting evidence is mixed. The present study tested the roles of testosterone and cortisol in the hawk-dove game, a dyadic economic decision-making paradigm in which earnings depend on one's own and the other player's choices. If one person selects the hawk strategy and the other person selects the dove strategy, the player who selected hawk attains a greater financial pay-off (status differentiation). The worst financial outcome occurs when both players choose the hawk strategy (status confrontation). Ninety-eight undergraduate students (42 men) provided saliva samples and played ten rounds of the hawk-dove game with another same-sex participant. In support of the hypothesis that testosterone is related to status concern, individuals higher in basal testosterone made more hawk decisions - decisions that harmed the other player. Acute decreases in cortisol were also associated with more hawk decisions. There was some empirical support for the dual-hormone hypothesis as well: basal testosterone was positively related to satisfaction in the game among low basal-cortisol individuals but not among high basal-cortisol individuals. There were no significant sex differences in these hormonal effects. The present findings align with theories of hormones and status-seeking behavior at the individual level, but they also open up new avenues for research on hormone profiles at the collective level. Our results suggest that the presence of two or more high-testosterone members increases the likelihood of status confrontations over a limited resource that can undermine collective outcomes.

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Towards a Biopsychological Understanding of Costly Punishment: The Role of Basal Cortisol

Cited by 21 publications

References 84 publications

A regulatory focus perspective on reputational concerns: The impact of prevention-focused self-regulation

A regulatory focus perspective on reputational concerns: The impact of prevention-focused self-regulation

How Cortisol Reactivity Influences Prosocial Decision-Making: The Moderating Role of Sex and Empathic Concern

Hormonal underpinnings of status conflict: Testosterone and cortisol are related to decisions and satisfaction in the hawk-dove game

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