Are social representations consistent with social strategies? Machiavellianism, opportunism, and aspects of lay thinking
Part of : Hellenic journal of psychology ; Vol.7, No.2, 2010, pages 141-158
Issue:
Pages:
141-158
Abstract:
The present study aimed to investigate if there are differences between cooperatorsand defectors when they represent some relevant "lay" notions implicated in the EvolutionaryGame Theory's approach of cooperation, namely "sincerity" and "revenge". Different kindsof cooperators and defectors were identified by two scales, the Mach IV scale and the scale ofeconomic opportunism, in a sample of 504 participants. The data on social representationsand the attitudes towards the relevant notions were collected using the method of freeassociations, to which participants were asked to attribute a positive, negative or neutral value,depending on the more or less positive, negative or neutral affects, values or experiences theyrelated to their own free associations. The hypothesis of this study was that differencesbetween cooperators and defectors emerge through the attitudinal dimension of theirrepresentations rather than through their cognitive content and structure. The resultsconfirmed the hypothesis, showing that the content and structure of the examinedrepresentations do not seem to differentiate cooperators and defectors even in cases ofextremely cooperative or extremely defecting participants, as identified by the scales used.Results also showed that the attitudinal dimension of the examined representations couldbetter discriminate cooperators from defectors.
Subject (LC):
Keywords:
economic opportunism, Machiavellianism, social representations
Notes:
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