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Which is the greater good? A social dilemma paradigm disentangling environmentalism and cooperation

Authors:
Sina A. Klein at Central Institute of Mental Health
Sina A. Klein
Benjamin E Hilbig at Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau
Benjamin E Hilbig
Daniel W. Heck at Philipps University of Marburg
Daniel W. Heck
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Abstract

In previous research, pro-environmental behavior (PEB) was almost exclusively aligned with in-group cooperation. However, PEB and in-group cooperation can also be mutually exclusive or directly conflict. To provide first evidence on behavior in these situations, the present work develops the Greater Good Game (GGG), a social dilemma paradigm with a selfish, a cooperative, and a pro-environmental choice option. In Study 1, the GGG and a corresponding measurement model were experimentally validated using different payoff structures. Results show that in-group cooperation is the dominant behavior in a situation of mutual exclusiveness, whereas selfish behavior becomes more dominant in a situation of conflict. Study 2 examined personality influences on choices in the GGG. High Honesty-Humility was associated with less selfishness, whereas Openness was not associated with more PEB. Results corroborate the paradigm as a valid instrument for investigating the conflict between in-group cooperation and PEB and provide first insights into personality influences.
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... While restraint in FISH can be interpreted as both PEB (prioritizing the resource) and cooperation (benefiting all players), these constructs are not always synonymous. As Klein environmental consequences [6,35]. Thus, it is necessary to differentiate between actions motivated by environmental concern and those driven by a desire for cooperation. ...
... To differentiate PEB from cooperation, Klein et al. developed the Greater Good Game (GGG; see Figure 1), a nested public goods game played in anonymous groups of three [35]. In this game, participants can choose to carry out the following: (a) keep their endowment (selfish); (b) contribute to the public goods account (cooperative); or (c) contribute to the environment account (PEB). ...
... Specifically, Klein et al. reported a significantly higher e parameter in the environmental priming condition [6]. [6,35]. Thus, it is necessary to differentiate between actions motivated by environmental concern and those driven by a desire for cooperation. ...
Exposure to Familiar Virtual Nature Promotes Pro-Environmental Behavior: Experimentally Examining the Mediating Role of Nature Connectedness
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2025
Pro-environmental behavior (PEB) is crucial for achieving a sustainable future. Although prior research has investigated the relationship between virtual nature exposure and PEB, empirical findings have been inconsistent; some studies suggest a positive association, while others report null effects. Furthermore, the use of laboratory tasks to assess PEB often risks conflating it with cooperative behavior, potentially undermining the validity of the conclusions. To address these limitations, this study employed a double-randomization design, utilizing the Greater Good Game (GGG) as a measure of PEB. This research comprised two main studies, each consisting of two sub-studies. Study 1 examined the direct effect of virtual nature exposure on PEB (Study 1a) and the moderating role of familiarity with nature exposure (Study 1b). Study 2 included two phases: Study 2a investigated the effects of familiarity with nature exposure on both nature connectedness and PEB, while Study 2b implemented a randomized pre–post-intervention design to manipulate nature connectedness and examine its causal effect on PEB. Results indicated that virtual nature exposure more effectively enhanced PEB when participants were exposed to familiar virtual environments, and nature connectedness mediated this relationship. These findings provide insights into the reasons for previous inconsistencies and offer valuable practical implications for educational programs and policies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviors.
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... Each member can put the amount into one of three accounts if he or she wishes. Each participant completed a total of 20 GGG tasks (Klein et al., 2017). ...
... This study used a Multinomial Processing Tree (MPT) model customized for the Greater Good Game task (Klein et al., 2017;Moshagen, 2010). ...
... This experimental paradigm is based on previous research (Klein et al., 2017). The main content of this paradigm includes "this you will form an ad hoc group with another student (virtual characters)to complete many the GGG tasks". ...
The impact of descriptive and injunctive social norms on pro-environmental behavior: astudy using eye-tracking technology
Article
Full-text available
  • Nov 2024
  • CURR PSYCHOL
Social norms have a stable influence on Pro-environmental behaviors (PEB). A focus theory of normative conduct categorizes social norms into two types: descriptive and injunctive. However, it remains unclear whether these different types of social norms have consistent effects on PEB. This study employs eye-tracking technology to investigate the effects of these social norms on PEB. Experiment 1 examined the effects of descriptive and injunctive social norms on PEB. The results showed that individuals adhering to injunctive social norms exhibited similar levels of engagement in PEB as those following descriptive social norms. Moreover, individuals who combined high descriptive and high injunctive social norms tended to engage in more PEB. Experiment 2 utilized eye-tracking technology to explore the relationship between individuals’ fixation duration and PEB when both types of social norms were presented simultaneously. The behavioral results indicated that high descriptive and high injunctive social norms significantly impacted PEB. Eye-tracking data revealed that participants had more fixations duration and fixation count on injunctive social norms compared to descriptive social norms. Notably, in scenarios featuring both high descriptive and high injunctive social norms, individuals allocated more fixation duration and fixation count towards PEB. In conclusion, the combination of descriptive and injunctive social norms more effectively promotes individuals’ engagement in PEB. Furthermore, the study highlights the profound influence of injunctive social norms, which are initially salient in capturing individuals’ attention and subsequently drive their engagement in PEB.
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... The current concern over individual attitudes toward the environment is alarming, with numerous scientists identifying anthropogenic environmental degradation as a paramount contemporary threat (Bouman, Steg, & Zawadzki, 2020;Hilbig, Zettler, Moshagen, & Heydasch, 2013;Klein, Hilbig, & Heck, 2017;Soutter & Mõttus, 2020). Therefore, UNESCO defines education as a means to encourage sustainable development, enabling individuals to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values necessary to shape a sustainable future (UNESCO, 2016). ...
... A plausible explanation for such behavior is humanity's failure to recognize how meeting shortterm needs jeopardizes long-term economic growth and environmental sustainability (Kakoty, 2018). Global environmental issues, such as global warming, climate change, and environmental degradation, pose significant threats to human life (Bouman et al., 2020;Hilbig et al., 2013;Klein et al., 2017). According to the Global Carbon Report (2019), global fossil CO2 emissions continue to rise annually, contributing to increasing Earth temperatures and global disasters (Álvarez-Yépiz, 2020;Keraf, 2010;Phun et al., 2020;Soutter & Mõttus, 2020). ...
An Exploration of Pro-Environmental Values in Learning: A Case Study in Elementary Schools
Article
Full-text available
  • Mar 2025
Pro-environmental values are crucial to instill in students to foster a generation that cares about the environment, promoting sustainability through education. Teachers play a central role in developing students' morals, encouraging responsible behavior and pro-environmental attitudes. This study explores pro-environmental values in ecology learning, focusing on ecosystem balance and the potential for more effective ecological education. Conducted at an elementary school in Subang Regency, West Java, it involved teachers and sixth-grade students. Using a qualitative case study approach, data was collected through observation, interviews, and discussions with 21 respondents, including principals, teachers, and students. Analysis followed stages of data collection, reduction, display, and conclusion. The study identified six key pro-environmental values taught: 1) environmental education, 2) energy-saving and renewable energy, 3) waste reduction, 4) anti-consumerism, 5) recycling, and 6) nature conservation. These values enhance students' capacity to act sustainably, fostering environmentally friendly behavior and responsible character. The findings underscore the importance of integrating pro-environmental values into ecological teaching to build environmentally conscious students. This study contributes to understanding how ecological learning materials can effectively promote sustainability, equipping teachers with tools to nurture environmentally aware future generations.
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... Using gain or loss frames (depending on the emotions induced in participants) and negative (versus positive) climate frames can also increase climate cooperation (Nelson et al. 2020;Tarditi et al. 2020). Pro-social frames (e.g., motivating cooperation as helpful to other people) are more powerful than pro-environmental frames (e.g., cooperation as helping to save the planet; Fleiss et al. 2020; Klein et al. 2017, but their impact may depend on the policy (subsidy or sanction) and audience (community or nature oriented) (Merrill and Sintov 2016). ...
... Climate attitudes also interact with social preferences and are closely related, although social preferences more strongly impact behaviour (Lange and Schwirplies 2017;Fleiss et al. 2020;Klein et al. 2017 and beliefs about others predict policy support more strongly than own climate beliefs (Schuldt et al. 2019;Wyss et al. 2023). Finally, a closely related set of attitudes that impacts climate action is people's sense of responsibility for the climate. ...
Encouraging Cooperation in Climate Collective Action Problems
Technical Report
Full-text available
  • Dec 2024
Our everyday decisions around food, transportation, or energy use create carbon emissions that impact the climate and therefore other people’s lives. Likewise, other people's choices and emissions impact our ability to enjoy a liveable climate. The best collective outcome is achieved if we all reduce our emissions. However, in many climate contexts a mismatch between collective and individual interests can harm climate action.1 For example, if everyone else reduces their emissions by living car-free, it is tempting for me to free-ride on their efforts and keep my car, as my personal emissions won’t significantly harm the climate by themselves. Even more importantly, if others do not reduce their emissions, it seems pointless to take action for the same reason: individual action is not enough if others free-ride. This is the climate collective action problem. This report examines how behavioural science can help solve the climate collective action problem. Behavioural science studies how people make decisions, such as whether to cooperate or free-ride when faced with collective action dilemmas. The report reviews existing research to find relevant evidence and identify concrete policy implications for Ireland. The report has three aims: 1. Summarise behavioural science research on collective action (“narrative review”) 2. Systematically review evidence on climate collective action (“scoping review”) 3. Draw policy implications for encouraging climate collective action in Ireland
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... These games typically assess participants' tendencies towards prosocial behavior (willingness to share resources or cooperate), antisocial behavior (retaliation or punishing unfair actions), or withdrawal behavior (abstaining from interaction) (e.g., Fehr & Fischbacher, 2004;Fehr & Gächter, 2002;Lotz et al., 2011). Examples of other games include the Public Goods Game, where individuals decide how much to contribute to a common pool that benefits the group (Balliet & Ferris, 2013;Ledyard, 1995), the Greater Good Game (Klein et al., 2017), which explores decisions about contributing to collective welfare (Klein & Rudert, 2021), and the Dictator Game, where one player unilaterally determines the division of resources (Forsythe et al., 1994;Lelieveld et al., 2012). ...
Choice availability and incentive structure determine how people cope with ostracism
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2024
  • J EXP SOC PSYCHOL
People vary greatly in their responses to being ignored and excluded by others (i.e., ostracism). Based on previous research, responses to ostracism are typically classified as prosocial, antisocial, and withdrawal behavior. However, studying these behaviors in isolation can limit our understanding of the decision-making process behind these behaviors. Offering multiple response options provides deeper insights into response preferences. Additionally, using a cost-benefit approach to assess behavioral outcomes provides a useful framework for understanding response preferences beyond the mere availability of choices. In five pre-registered experiments (total N = 2145), we manipulated the availability of choice options and incentive structure of different behavioral responses towards the source of ostracism. Our findings reveal that when all options were equally non-costly, ostracized individuals preferred prosocial behaviors (Studies 1-3). When withdrawal offered solitude rather than inactivity, it became just as likely as prosocial responses (Study 4). Despite the potential risk of losing future rewards, withdrawal even became the dominant choice when prosocial and antisocial options incurred immediate costs (Study 5). These findings show how experimental changes can shift the perceived meaning of responses. Overall, our work highlights the importance of considering both choice variety and a cost-benefit framework in understanding coping behaviors in social exclusion research. Ostracism-feeling ignored and excluded by others-has detrimental consequences for people's well-being and relationships (Williams, 2009). The temporal need threat model of ostracism (TNTM: Williams, 2009; Ren et al., 2018) describes ostracism as a painful experience that negatively impacts the targets' psychological needs. There are several ways in which people deal with the consequences of ostracism (Ren et al., 2018): targets may cope in an antisocial or pro-social manner towards those who ostracized them or by withdrawing from the interaction or situation. Understanding response preferences to ostracism is crucial because these behaviors influence interpersonal relationships , affecting possible reconciliation, the potential for conflict, and social harmony within a group. Additionally, examining coping behaviors sheds light on the possible psychological effects of ostracism and helps inform strategies to optimally restore well-being and social bonds. However, it is hard to determine how frequently different responses occur due to the definitional overlap among behavioral response options in previous literature and the limited choices available to participants in ostracism research. The current research overcomes this by systematically investigating whether offering multiple response options and manipulating their perceived costs and benefits affects how targets respond towards those who ostracized them.
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... As a proxy for individual pro-environmental behavior, choices in the greater-good-game (GGG; Klein et al., 2017) were considered. In the GGG, a nested public goods game (Thielmann et al., 2021), participants chose between three mutually exclusive options for allocating a monetary endowment: (i) a selfish option (keeping the endowment), (ii) a pro-social option benefiting a small in-group (contributing the endowment to a group account), or (iii) a pro-environmental option (contributing the endowment to a pro-environmental donation account). ...
Judgments and beliefs about climate change: measurement, stability, and behavioral consequences
Article
Full-text available
  • Nov 2024
  • JUDGM DECIS MAK
In light of the growing threat of climate change and urgency of mitigation at the societal and individual level, an exponentially growing body of research has addressed how and what people think about climate change—ranging from basic judgments of truth and attitudes about risk to predictions of future outcomes. However, the field is also beset by a striking variety of items and scales used to measure climate change beliefs, with notable differences in content, untested structural assumptions, and unsatisfactory or unknown psychometric properties. In a series of four studies (total N = 2,678), scales for the assessment of climate change beliefs are developed that are comprehensive and balanced in content and psychometrically sound. The latent construct structure is tested, and evidence of high rank-order stability (1-year retest-reliability) and predictive validity (for policy preferences and actual behavior) provided.
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... For example, experimental paradigms have been developed where financial costs are used to indicate participants' pro-environmental behavior. These include the Greater Goods Game (Klein et al., 2017), which is based on a public goods game which also includes options to donate money to an environmental charity, the Tree Task (Essl et al., 2023) where participants can choose to invest money towards planting a tree, and the Carbon Emission Task (Berger & Wyss, 2021) where participants can choose to invest money towards buying carbon offset vouchers. In these studies, participants who choose not to donate money to the pro-environmental outcomes will instead keep the money themselves. ...
The Email Conservation Task: Testing the validity of an online measure of direct pro-environmental behavior
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 2024
  • J ENVIRON PSYCHOL
There is a need for valid measures of pro-environmental behavior, in particular ones measuring actual behavior. In response, a number of such measures have been introduced recently, however each faces limitations such as high costs, practical use and/or only measure indirect environmental behavior, limiting their scope, accessibility and inclusivity. In response, this study introduces the easily administered and low-cost Email Conservation Task (ECT), which measures direct pro-environmental behaviour (in this case, email use). Here, participants chose between personal costs (time spent on trivial tasks) or environmental costs (receiving unnecessary emails leading to CO2 emissions) across multiple trials. In a pre-registered study testing the validity of the ECT, it was found (as hypothesized) that participants scored higher on the ECT (incurred more personal costs rather than receiving unnecessary emails) when personal costs to them were lower, and scored higher when the environmental costs of receiving unnecessary emails were higher. Finally, total scores on the ECT significantly correlated with scores on three self-reported indicators of pro-environmentalism. Overall, the results of this study support all three hypotheses, indicating that the ECT is a valid measure of pro-environmental behavior that can be implemented across a diverse range of research areas.
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The Psychological and Social Dimensions of Environmental Leadership for Generation Alpha
Chapter
  • Mar 2025
This chapter explores the psychological and social dimensions of environmental leadership for Generation Alpha, examining the unique traits, influences, and challenges that define this emerging cohort of leaders. It discusses the impact of their psychological traits, such as increased environmental concern and eco-anxiety, and the social factors that shape their perspectives, including family, education, and media. The chapter also addresses the role of technology, education, and global interconnectedness in fostering leadership skills. Highlighting strategies to support Generation Alpha's environmental leadership, the chapter emphasizes the importance of mentorship, intergenerational collaboration, and inclusive solutions. Despite the challenges they face, including mental health concerns and climate-induced stress, Generation Alpha holds the potential to drive significant change through innovation, activism, and sustainable practices. This future-oriented analysis offers insights into preparing and empowering this generation for environmental leadership.
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The Environmental Decision Task: A new measurement of the money-environment trade-off
Presentation
  • Sep 2024
Whether or not people make pro-environmental decisions depends on the extent to which, for them, the individual consequences outweigh the environmental consequences. Recent research has introduced several experimental tasks that measure pro-environmental decision-making when faced with choices between environmental and individual consequences. These behavioral experiments make it possible to study sustainable decision-making under controlled conditions and measure individual differences in pro-environmentalism. However, previous attempts have been perceived as less enjoyable, more fatiguing, more sensitive to multitasking, more time-consuming, and/or are prone to various cognitive biases. The first goal of the current study was to develop a new measure of the money-environment trade-off by using an easy-to-perform and easy-to-conduct task that is less susceptible to cognitive biases. To do so, we created a decision task where participants have to choose between receiving money or investing money in the fight against climate change. As a second goal, the current study tested the convergent validity of the task by examining how the proportion of pro-environmental choices is associated with other measures of pro-environmental behavior and related constructs. The current study found that the new measurement has good convergent validity regarding self-report scales of pro-environmental behavior and related constructs but is less sensitive to social desirability. Furthermore, the same results were found even when only using 9 trials of the task (approximately 30 seconds of duration) and even when hypothetical consequences are introduced. In this presentation, we will discuss the advantages and limitations of using this new measurement.
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The two faces of cooperation: On the unique role of HEXACO Agreeableness for forgiveness versus retaliation
Article
Full-text available
  • Oct 2016
Cooperation requires a tendency for fairness (versus exploitation) and for forgiveness (versus retaliation). Exactly these tendencies are distinguished in the HEXACO model of personality which attributes the former to Honesty-Humility (HH) and the latter to Agreeableness (AG). However, empirical dissociations between these basic traits have primarily supported the substantial and unique role of HH, whereas the picture for AG has remained somewhat inconclusive. To overcome limitations of prior studies, we introduce an economic paradigm, the uncostly retaliation game, to more conclusively test the unique role of AG for forgiveness versus retaliation. In two fully incentivized experiments, we found that AG (and not HH) indeed negatively predicts retaliation decisions in the face of prior exploitation. Furthermore, the results confirm that the paradigm provides a more direct measure of retaliation (beyond individual payoff-concerns and social preferences such as inequality aversion) than previous measures and that it may thus serve future investigations into the reactive aspect of cooperation.
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Unearthing the "Green" Personality: Core Traits Predict Environmentally Friendly Behavior
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2016
Pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors show substantial individual differences, and exploring their predictors can help reveal the origins of pro-environmental behavior. Basic personality traits may provide a partial explanation, but it is unclear which personality traits are reliably associated with pro-environmental behaviors. This article uses a specific type of environmental behavior, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, to clarify which personality correlates are most robustly associated with behavior, and to test mediation of those effects through attitudes. A large (N = 345) sample of United States adults representative in age, gender, and ethnicity completed the 100-item HEXACO personality inventory, a novel self-report measure of behaviors that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and scales of environmental and political attitudes. Accounting for demographics, emissions-reducing behaviors were most strongly predicted by Openness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion, and these effects of personality were mediated by attitudes toward the natural environment. These observations broaden the understanding of the etiology of environmental attitudes and behavior.
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Common Human Identity and the Path to Global Climate Justice
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2016
  • CLIMATIC CHANGE
With the 2015 summit on global climate change in Paris, political action will (or will not) be taken to tackle the threats of the global climate crisis. Both social scientists as well as conservationists have come to the conclusion that human activity is one of the main reasons for climate change and nature degradation, and the main target of justice related mitigation and adaptation responses. This article puts human (in)activity into focus, and introduces a social identity perspective on environmental justice. Specifically, it shows how conservation scientists can draw from the idea of a common human identity (CHI). It delineates how the representation of a “common human ingroup” could inform beliefs about environmental justice, which in turn should motivate individuals and groups to act in favor of the natural environment. The review highlights that social identification with all humans may represent a potential path to global environmental justice, and combines recent insights from social identity research with conservation behavior.
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Social Identities in a Globalized World: Challenges and Opportunities for Collective Action
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 2015
Globalization—the increasing interconnectedness of societies, economies, and cultures—is a defining feature of contemporary social life. Paradoxically, it underlies both the dynamics of global crises (e.g., rising inequality, climate change), and possibilities for ameliorating them. In this review, we introduce globalization as a multifaceted process, and elaborate its psychological effects with respect to identity, culture, and collective action. Using a social identity approach, we discuss three foci of identification: local culture, globalized-Western culture, and humanity. Each source of identification is analyzed in terms of its psychological meaning and position in the global power structure. Globalized-Western culture forms the basis for an exclusive globalized identity, which privileges only some cultures and ways of life. We conceptualize reactions to its core values in terms of cultural identification and rejection, and acceptance of, or opposition to, the its global social order. Opposition to this inequitable global order is central to inclusive globalized identities (e.g., identification with humankind). These identities may encourage globally-minded collective action, even as more research is needed to address their potential caveats. We consider possibilities for social change and action, and conclude that a focused application of psychological science to the study of these issues is overdue.
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Connectedness to Nature and to Humanity: their association and personality correlates
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2015
People differ in the extent to which they identify with humans beyond their ingroup and with non-human living things. We refer to the former as the Connectedness to Humanity (CH) and to the latter as the Connectedness to Nature (CN). In a sample of 324 undergraduate students, CH and CN were operationalized using the Identification with All Humanity Scale (McFarland et al., 2012) and the CN Scale (Mayer and Frantz, 2004), respectively. These variables correlated moderately with each other (r = 0.44) and shared Openness to Experience and Honesty–Humility as their primary personality correlates. CN was found to play an important role in mediating the relationships between the two personality variables and some specific pro-environmental/pro-animal attitudes and ecological behaviors.
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Environmental problems as social dilemmas: The temporal dimension
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2005
Understanding Behavior in the Context of Time reviews the research on temporal orientation and brings together the disparate social behaviors influenced by time perspective. Organized into four sections, each chapter includes theory, research, applications, and directions for future research. Some chapters outline novel theoretical approaches that help to expand and/or integrate existing theories. The second part focuses on individual level processes and reviews the conceptualization, measurement, and lifespan development of time orientation; the outcomes associated with various time orientations; and how temporal factors influence attitudes and persuasion. Part three explores the role of time within interpersonal and group level processes as applied to such areas as close relationships, group cooperation, aggression, organizational behavior, pro-environmental behavior, and cultural issues. This book will be of interest to social and personality psychologists, and the book's applied emphasis will appeal to health, environmental, and industrial psychologists.
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Multinomial Processing Tree Models
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2009
  • Z PSYCHOL
Multinomial processing tree (MPT) models have become popular in cognitive psychology in the past two decades. In contrast to general-purpose data analysis techniques, such as log-linear models or other generalized linear models, MPT models are substantively motivated stochastic models for categorical data. They are best described as tools (a) for measuring the cognitive processes that underlie human behavior in various tasks and (b) for testing the psychological assumptions on which these models are based. The present article provides a review of MPT models and their applications in psychology, focusing on recent trends and developments in the past 10 years. Our review is nontechnical in nature and primarily aims at informing readers about the scope and utility of MPT models in different branches of cognitive psychology.
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Cooperation is in our nature: Nature exposure may promote cooperative and environmentally sustainable behavior
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2015
  • J ENVIRON PSYCHOL
Theory and correlational research suggest that connecting with nature may facilitate prosocial and environmentally sustainable behaviors. In three studies we test causal direction with experimental manipulations of nature exposure and laboratory analogs of cooperative and sustainable behavior. Participants who watched a nature video harvested more cooperatively and sustainably in a fishing-themed commons dilemma, compared to participants who watched an architectural video (Study 1 and 2) or geometric shapes with an audio podcast about writing (Study 2). The effects were not due to mood, and this was corroborated in Study 3 where pleasantness and nature content were manipulated independently in a 2x2 design. Participants exposed to nature videos responded more cooperatively on a measure of social value orientation and indicated greater willingness to engage in environmentally sustainable behaviors. Collectively, results suggest that exposure to nature may increase cooperation, and, when considering environmental problems as social dilemmas, sustainable intentions and behavior.
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Psynteract: A flexible, cross-platform, open framework for interactive experiments
Article
  • Nov 2016
  • BEHAV RES METHODS
We introduce a novel platform for interactive studies, that is, any form of study in which participants' experiences depend not only on their own responses, but also on those of other participants who complete the same study in parallel, for example a prisoner's dilemma or an ultimatum game. The software thus especially serves the rapidly growing field of strategic interaction research within psychology and behavioral economics. In contrast to all available software packages, our platform does not handle stimulus display and response collection itself. Instead, we provide a mechanism to extend existing experimental software to incorporate interactive functionality. This approach allows us to draw upon the capabilities already available, such as accuracy of temporal measurement, integration with auxiliary hardware such as eye-trackers or (neuro-)physiological apparatus, and recent advances in experimental software, for example capturing response dynamics through mouse-tracking. Through integration with OpenSesame, an open-source graphical experiment builder, studies can be assembled via a drag-and-drop interface requiring little or no further programming skills. In addition, by using the same communication mechanism across software packages, we also enable interoperability between systems. Our source code, which provides support for all major operating systems and several popular experimental packages, can be freely used and distributed under an open source license. The communication protocols underlying its functionality are also well documented and easily adapted to further platforms. Code and documentation are available at https://github.com/psynteract/ .
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Identification with all Humanity: The Role of Self-Definition and Self-Investment
Article
  • Apr 2015
  • EUR J SOC PSYCHOL
Identification With All Humanity (IWAH) relates to higher levels of concern and supportive behavior towards the disadvantaged, stronger endorsement of human rights, and stronger responses in favor of global harmony. So far, IWAH has been conceptualized as a one-dimensional construct describing the degree with which one identifies with all humans as a superordinate ingroup. However, recent group identification models suggest a multi-dimensional model to provide a more differentiated approach towards the understanding of the highest level of social identification. Using principal axis (Study 1) and confirmatory (Study 2) factor analyses, we suggest that IWAH sub-divides into two dimensions – global self-definition and global self-investment. Study 2 revealed that global self-investment was a stronger predictor for both convergent measures (e.g., social dominance orientation, authoritarianism), and behavioral intentions than global self-definition. Finally, in Study 3, we manipulated IWAH to test its causal effect on donation behavior. Participants in the experimental condition, compared with the control condition, showed higher global self-investment, which in turn predicted greater giving to global charity. These findings suggest that two dimensions with different behavioral outcomes underlie IWAH.
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