Positive reciprocity when motives are ambiguous

We present and test a model of reciprocity in which people are more likely to repay good treatment to the extent they judge it as motivated by true caring rather than tactical self-interest. The model’s key contributions stem from how it handles ambiguously motivated behavior. It allows people to ma...

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Autores: Müller-Trede, J. (Johannes)|||/items/ef8f7f57-a747-49a4-93bd-0c5ba6ba5011, Rottenstreich, Y. (Yuval)|||/items/aa810652-79d9-4ceb-bfb7-fff64988c7f9
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Navarra
Repositorio:Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:dadun.unav.edu:10171/117075
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10171/117075
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Attribution
Cooperation
Reciprocity
Social preferences
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spelling Positive reciprocity when motives are ambiguousMüller-Trede, J. (Johannes)|||/items/ef8f7f57-a747-49a4-93bd-0c5ba6ba5011Rottenstreich, Y. (Yuval)|||/items/aa810652-79d9-4ceb-bfb7-fff64988c7f9AttributionCooperationReciprocitySocial preferencesWe present and test a model of reciprocity in which people are more likely to repay good treatment to the extent they judge it as motivated by true caring rather than tactical self-interest. The model’s key contributions stem from how it handles ambiguously motivated behavior. It allows people to maintain divergent hypotheses: They can view behavior as driven by caring, self-interest, or a mix thereof. In contrast, previous analyses resolve rather than maintain ambiguity. They treat caring and self-interest as mutually exclusive hypotheses, and require that people commit to one and dismiss the other. By more realistically handling ambiguity, our model yields three benefits. First, it accommodates intuitive patterns of play that existing analyses do not and which we experimentally corroborate. These patterns reflect intermediate inclinations to reciprocate ambiguously motivated positive behavior. Second, it challenges conventional interpretations of long-studied phenomena, including unraveling in finitely iterated prisoners’ dilemmas, substantial offers in ultimatum games, and gift exchange. Third, it highlights how diversity in perceptions – the same action can appear generous to one person and miserly to another – is empirically consequential. Under conventional interpretations and without accounting for diverse perceptions, the aforementioned phenomena have been viewed as inconsistent with a taste for repaying good treatment. Our model shows that they are entirely consistent with a nuanced form of this taste: a desire to repay good treatment that seems to largely reflect genuine caring.Cambridge University PressDadun. Depósito Académico Digital Universidad de Navarra20252025-08-1420252025-08-14journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/10171/117075reponame:Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarrainstname:Universidad de NavarraInglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:dadun.unav.edu:10171/1170752026-06-21T12:47:57Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Positive reciprocity when motives are ambiguous
title Positive reciprocity when motives are ambiguous
spellingShingle Positive reciprocity when motives are ambiguous
Müller-Trede, J. (Johannes)|||/items/ef8f7f57-a747-49a4-93bd-0c5ba6ba5011
Attribution
Cooperation
Reciprocity
Social preferences
title_short Positive reciprocity when motives are ambiguous
title_full Positive reciprocity when motives are ambiguous
title_fullStr Positive reciprocity when motives are ambiguous
title_full_unstemmed Positive reciprocity when motives are ambiguous
title_sort Positive reciprocity when motives are ambiguous
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Müller-Trede, J. (Johannes)|||/items/ef8f7f57-a747-49a4-93bd-0c5ba6ba5011
Rottenstreich, Y. (Yuval)|||/items/aa810652-79d9-4ceb-bfb7-fff64988c7f9
author Müller-Trede, J. (Johannes)|||/items/ef8f7f57-a747-49a4-93bd-0c5ba6ba5011
author_facet Müller-Trede, J. (Johannes)|||/items/ef8f7f57-a747-49a4-93bd-0c5ba6ba5011
Rottenstreich, Y. (Yuval)|||/items/aa810652-79d9-4ceb-bfb7-fff64988c7f9
author_role author
author2 Rottenstreich, Y. (Yuval)|||/items/aa810652-79d9-4ceb-bfb7-fff64988c7f9
author2_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital Universidad de Navarra
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Attribution
Cooperation
Reciprocity
Social preferences
topic Attribution
Cooperation
Reciprocity
Social preferences
description We present and test a model of reciprocity in which people are more likely to repay good treatment to the extent they judge it as motivated by true caring rather than tactical self-interest. The model’s key contributions stem from how it handles ambiguously motivated behavior. It allows people to maintain divergent hypotheses: They can view behavior as driven by caring, self-interest, or a mix thereof. In contrast, previous analyses resolve rather than maintain ambiguity. They treat caring and self-interest as mutually exclusive hypotheses, and require that people commit to one and dismiss the other. By more realistically handling ambiguity, our model yields three benefits. First, it accommodates intuitive patterns of play that existing analyses do not and which we experimentally corroborate. These patterns reflect intermediate inclinations to reciprocate ambiguously motivated positive behavior. Second, it challenges conventional interpretations of long-studied phenomena, including unraveling in finitely iterated prisoners’ dilemmas, substantial offers in ultimatum games, and gift exchange. Third, it highlights how diversity in perceptions – the same action can appear generous to one person and miserly to another – is empirically consequential. Under conventional interpretations and without accounting for diverse perceptions, the aforementioned phenomena have been viewed as inconsistent with a taste for repaying good treatment. Our model shows that they are entirely consistent with a nuanced form of this taste: a desire to repay good treatment that seems to largely reflect genuine caring.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025-08-14
2025
2025-08-14
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10171/117075
url https://hdl.handle.net/10171/117075
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra
instname:Universidad de Navarra
instname_str Universidad de Navarra
reponame_str Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra
collection Dadun. Depósito Académico Digital de la Universidad de Navarra
repository.name.fl_str_mv
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