Social Preferences (social + preference)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


A Matter of Trust: From Social Preferences to the Strategic Adherence to Social Norms

NEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT RESEARCH, Issue 1 2008
Joachim I. Krueger
Abstract In a mathematical analysis of the trust game, we show that utility-maximizing trustees should establish equal payoffs or return nothing depending on the strength of their social preferences (benevolence and inequality aversion). Trustors may invest any amount depending on their social preferences and their expectations regarding the trustees' preferences. For both types of player, empirical distributions of transfers are rather flat, however, and players' morality, but not their rationality, is judged in proportion to the money transferred. This pattern of findings suggests that people are primarily motivated by self-interest, and that they adhere to relevant social norms inasmuch as they can enhance their self-image or reputation as a moral person. [source]


Is Being Popular a Risky Proposition?

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 1 2008
Lara Mayeux
Longitudinal associations between social preference, perceived popularity, and risk behaviors (smoking, alcohol use, and sexual activity) were examined in a sample of high school students. Social preference did not predict any of the risk behaviors assessed, although the interaction between gender and social preference was predictive of sexual behavior. Perceived popularity in Grade 10 was predictive of increased alcohol use and sexual activity in Grade 12 for both boys and girls. A reciprocal relationship was found for boys, in which smoking in Grade 10 also predicted gains in perceived popularity over time. Furthermore, results suggested that gains in perceived popularity may be associated with subsequent losses in social preference over time, lending support for the "cycle of popularity" observed by Eder. Implications are discussed, including the personal impact of risk behaviors on perceived popular teens, as well as the broader influence their behavior may have on their less popular counterparts. [source]


On Reputation: A Microfoundation of Contract Enforcement and Price Rigidity,

THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 536 2009
Ernst Fehr
We study the impact of reputational incentives in markets characterised by moral hazard problems. Social preferences have been shown to enhance contract enforcement in these markets, while at the same time generating considerable wage and price rigidity. Reputation powerfully amplifies the positive effects of social preferences on contract enforcement by increasing contract efficiency substantially. This effect is, however, associated with a considerable bilateralisation of market interactions, suggesting that it may aggravate price rigidities. Surprisingly, reputation in fact weakens the wage and price rigidities arising from social preferences. Thus, in markets characterised by moral hazard, reputational incentives unambiguously increase mutually beneficial exchanges, reduce rents, and render markets more responsive to supply and demand shocks. [source]


Is Being Popular a Risky Proposition?

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 1 2008
Lara Mayeux
Longitudinal associations between social preference, perceived popularity, and risk behaviors (smoking, alcohol use, and sexual activity) were examined in a sample of high school students. Social preference did not predict any of the risk behaviors assessed, although the interaction between gender and social preference was predictive of sexual behavior. Perceived popularity in Grade 10 was predictive of increased alcohol use and sexual activity in Grade 12 for both boys and girls. A reciprocal relationship was found for boys, in which smoking in Grade 10 also predicted gains in perceived popularity over time. Furthermore, results suggested that gains in perceived popularity may be associated with subsequent losses in social preference over time, lending support for the "cycle of popularity" observed by Eder. Implications are discussed, including the personal impact of risk behaviors on perceived popular teens, as well as the broader influence their behavior may have on their less popular counterparts. [source]


Acute Effects of Ethanol on Behavior of Adolescent Rats: Role of Social Context

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 3 2001
Elena I. Varlinskaya
Background: First experiences with alcohol in humans occur predominantly in adolescence, and to a large extent the attractiveness of alcohol at this age is based on its ability to facilitate certain forms of social behavior (social facilitation). Adolescence is strongly marked by a focus on peer relationships, and the social nature of the situation plays an important role in responsiveness to alcohol. Peer-directed social activity of adolescent rats may be a valuable experimental model for the study of ethanol-induced changes in social behavior and assessment of the role of the social context in responsiveness to ethanol. Method: In the present study we used a modified dyad social interaction test to characterize acute effects of ethanol on different forms of social behavior (social investigation, contact behavior, and play) and social motivation (preference/avoidance of a peer) in adolescent rats. Ethanol effects on behavior directed toward a peer were compared with those induced by exposure to an inanimate novel object. Results: In the social context, the effects of ethanol were dose-dependent and biphasic. Low doses of ethanol (0.25,0.75 g/kg) produced apparent social facilitation (increased social activity and enhanced social preference), whereas higher doses (3 and 4 g/kg) caused social inhibition (decreased social activity and avoidance of a peer). This pattern was not observed for a nonsocial stimulus: Although overall activity in the nonsocial context was suppressed by 2 and 3 g/kg of ethanol, 0.5 g/kg of ethanol did not activate overall activity directed to the inanimate object. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that the social nature of the testing situation plays an important role in responsiveness to alcohol in adolescence, especially to its activating effects. The results suggest also that the study of ethanol effects on social behavior of adolescent rats may be an effective tool for the study of adolescent alcohol use and abuse. [source]


Pages from a sociometric notebook: An analysis of nomination and rating scale measures of acceptance, rejection, and social preference

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR CHILD & ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT, Issue 88 2000
Professor William M. Bukowski
The association between acceptance and rejection measured with nominations is not adequately described by a simple linear relationship. Sociometric ratings measure social preference but can also yield indicators of acceptance and rejection. [source]


Study of subjectivity in the perception of cesarean birth

NURSING & HEALTH SCIENCES, Issue 1 2005
Chai Soon Park rn
Abstract This study defined the structural patterns of subjectivity in the perception of cesarean birth. Q methodology was used on 71 statements collected through interviews with seven persons and a literature review followed. Twenty-nine Q samples were selected and administered to 22 persons, and four types of subjectivity were revealed by the QUANL PC Program. Type 1, or the ,naturalist', is characterized by a passive tendency and dislikes artificial methods, feeling that they are performed for hospital income and the trend for social preference. Type 2, ,logical thinker', thinks that cesarean birth should be selected if there are obstetric complications and severe anxiety about labor, even though it results in low intimacy with the baby. Type 3, ,maternal instinctivism', values the maternal-baby relationship and the sense of accomplishment from childbirth. Type 4, ,egocentric', thinks that cesarean section should be chosen when the woman has severe anxiety about labor or when the obstetric condition becomes dangerous. Before commencement of the patient's labor pains, the nurses and medical personnel who are participating in the delivery should assess the structural pattern on parturient woman's subjectivity in the perception of cesarean section. As a further step, they should encourage the woman and her family to participate in the decision-making process for considering the type of delivery the mother wants. [source]


Peer Group Status as a Moderator of Group Influence on Children's Deviant, Aggressive, and Prosocial Behavior

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2007
Wendy E. Ellis
Group status was examined as a moderator of peer group socialization of deviant, aggressive, and prosocial behavior. In the fall and 3 months later, preadolescents and early adolescents provided self-reported scores for deviant behavior and group membership, and peer nominations for overt and relational aggression, prosocial behavior, and social preference. Using the social cognitive map, 116 groups were identified involving 526 children (282 girls; M age = 12.05). Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that high group centrality (visibility) magnified group socialization of relational aggression, deviant behavior, and prosocial behavior, and low group acceptance magnified socialization of deviant behavior. Results suggest group influence on behavior is not uniform but depends on group status, especially group visibility within the larger peer context. [source]


Fiscal Transfers and Distributive Conflict in a Simple Endogenous Growth Model with Unemployment

GERMAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 1 2007
Luigi Bonatti
Capital,labor conflict; endogenous growth; politico-economic models; tax burden; welfare reforms Abstract. In the simplified formal treatment proposed in this paper, a decrease in a policy parameter , the ratio of total tax revenues to GDP , can monotonically increase long-term growth rate and may lead to a higher employment level. This notwithstanding, the paper shows that the redistributive implications of such a decrease may induce the wage earners to oppose it. As a consequence, policy-makers reflecting social preferences may undertake redistributive transfers generating persistent unemployment and lowering growth even if commitment technologies allowing them to follow preannounced tax policies were feasible. [source]


A Matter of Trust: From Social Preferences to the Strategic Adherence to Social Norms

NEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT RESEARCH, Issue 1 2008
Joachim I. Krueger
Abstract In a mathematical analysis of the trust game, we show that utility-maximizing trustees should establish equal payoffs or return nothing depending on the strength of their social preferences (benevolence and inequality aversion). Trustors may invest any amount depending on their social preferences and their expectations regarding the trustees' preferences. For both types of player, empirical distributions of transfers are rather flat, however, and players' morality, but not their rationality, is judged in proportion to the money transferred. This pattern of findings suggests that people are primarily motivated by self-interest, and that they adhere to relevant social norms inasmuch as they can enhance their self-image or reputation as a moral person. [source]


Taking Others into Account: Self-Interest and Fairness in Majority Decision Making

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2010
Jan Sauermann
Research on the formal properties of democratic aggregation mechanisms has a long tradition in political science. Recent theoretical developments, however, show that in the discussion of normative contents of democratic decisions, the actual shape of preferences deserves just as much attention. However, our knowledge about the concrete motivations of individual behavior in democratic decisions is incomplete. Using laboratory experiments, this article examines the existence of social preferences in majority decisions. Contrary to earlier experiments of committee decision making, we develop a design that controls for the conditions of communication and the level of information between subjects. This allows us to comparatively test the predictive power of several theories. We find strong evidence that self-interest and fairness motivate human behavior in majority decisions. [source]


On Reputation: A Microfoundation of Contract Enforcement and Price Rigidity,

THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 536 2009
Ernst Fehr
We study the impact of reputational incentives in markets characterised by moral hazard problems. Social preferences have been shown to enhance contract enforcement in these markets, while at the same time generating considerable wage and price rigidity. Reputation powerfully amplifies the positive effects of social preferences on contract enforcement by increasing contract efficiency substantially. This effect is, however, associated with a considerable bilateralisation of market interactions, suggesting that it may aggravate price rigidities. Surprisingly, reputation in fact weakens the wage and price rigidities arising from social preferences. Thus, in markets characterised by moral hazard, reputational incentives unambiguously increase mutually beneficial exchanges, reduce rents, and render markets more responsive to supply and demand shocks. [source]


WHY SOCIAL PREFERENCES MATTER , THE IMPACT OF NON-SELFISH MOTIVES ON COMPETITION, COOPERATION AND INCENTIVES

THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 478 2002
Ernst Fehr
A substantial number of people exhibit social preferences, which means they are not solely motivated by material self-interest but also care positively or negatively for the material payoffs of relevant reference agents. We show empirically that economists fail to understand fundamental economic questions when they disregard social preferences, in particular, that without taking social preferences into account, it is not possible to understand adequately (i) effects of competition on market outcomes, (ii) laws governing cooperation and collective action, (iii) effects and the determinants of material incentives, (iv) which contracts and property rights arrangements are optimal, and (v) important forces shaping social norms and market failures. [source]


Sex and age differences in juvenile social priorities in female philopatric, nondespotic blue monkeys

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 3 2010
Marina Cords
Abstract Juveniles should choose social partners on the basis of both current and future utility. Where one sex is philopatric, one expects members of that sex to develop greater and sex-typical social integration with group-mates over the juvenile period. Where a partner's position in a dominance hierarchy is not associated with services it can provide, one would not expect juveniles to choose partners based on rank, nor sex differences in rank-based preferences. We tested these ideas on 39 wild juvenile (3.2,7.4,years) blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni), cercopithecines with strict female philopatry and muted hierarchies. We made focal animal observations over 6 months, and computed observed:expected amounts of proximity time, approaches and grooming given to various social partners. Overall, our results agree with the hypothesis that juvenile blue monkeys target social partners strategically. Spatial proximity, approaches and active grooming showed similar patterns regarding juvenile social preferences. Females were far more sociable than males, groomed more partners, reciprocated grooming more frequently, and preferred,while males avoided,infants as partners. Older juveniles (5,7 years) spent more time than younger juveniles (3,4,years) near others, and older females were especially attracted to infants. Close kin, especially mothers and less consistently adult sisters, were attractive to both male and female juveniles, regardless of age. Both sexes also preferred same-sex juveniles as social partners while avoiding opposite-sex peers. Juveniles of both sexes and ages generally neither preferred nor avoided nonmaternal adult females, but all juveniles avoided adult males. Partner's rank had no consistent effect on juveniles' preference, as expected for a species in which dominance plays a weak role. Juveniles' social preferences likely reflect both future and current benefits, including having tolerant adult kin to protect them against predators and conspecifics, same-sex play partners, and, for females, infants on which to practice mothering skills. Am. J. Primatol. 72:193,205, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Developmental changes in responsiveness to parents and unfamiliar adults in a monogamous monkey (Callicebus moloch)

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 2 2002
D.J. Mayeaux
Abstract Titi monkeys (Callicebus moloch) are monogamous New World primates that are characteristically found in family-type groups consisting of a mated adult pair and one or two young. The factors maintaining the small size of these groups are not known. Based on observations of free-ranging and captive families, parental aggression toward older offspring seems unlikely to play a significant role. Maturing individuals themselves, however, could undergo behavioral changes that weaken ties to their natal group. These might include waning of affiliative relations with parents, or subtle forms of aversion. Independent of such changes, increasing interest in unfamiliar conspecifics could be a factor. We examined these possibilities in the present study by assessing changes in social behavior and social preferences from initial ambulatory independence (6 months) through reproductive maturity (24 months) in a combined cross-sectional/longitudinal study of 21 captive titi monkeys living with their parents. Responses to both parents and to an unfamiliar adult heterosexual pair, a single unfamiliar adult male, and a single unfamiliar adult female were observed when subjects were given a choice between parents and strangers presented simultaneously or as the only social incentive. Social stimuli were at opposite ends of a 16.8-m-long test corridor. Subjects could move freely about the corridor for 5 min with each configuration of social stimuli. They stayed closer to parents than to strangers at all ages. Responsiveness to strangers increased with age and suggested growing ambivalence, particularly toward the male stranger. As they approached 24 months of age, male subjects showed a dramatic increase in the frequency and intensity of agonistic behaviors toward male strangers, behaviors that were rarely directed toward female strangers or parents. Waning of attraction to parents may be less important in dispersal from the natal group than changing reactions to strangers. Am. J. Primatol. 58:71,89, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Attachment and social preferences in cooperatively-reared cotton-top tamarins

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 3 2002
Karen M. Kostan
Abstract In many primate species a close attachment between mother and infant provides a secure base for the infant when the infant is frightened or under stress. In cooperatively breeding primates infant carrying is divided among several individuals in the group, with the mother often doing little more than nursing. In these species it is not clear which individual would best serve as a secure base for the infant. We studied eight infant cotton-top tamarins from birth through 20 weeks of age, noting who carried the infant during the first 100 days, who transferred food with the infants, and, as infants became independent, with whom they associated during social play and affiliative behavior. From week 9 to week 20, when infants were independent of carriers most of the time, we presented families with six trials (once every 2 weeks) with a threatening stimulus (a human dressed in a lab coat and wearing an animal mask). Infants played primarily with their twin or youngest sibling and had affiliative interactions with many family members. However, in fearful situations, infants ran to those who had carried them and transferred food with them the most,their father or oldest brother (never to the mother). Although adults increased rates of mobbing calls in response to the threat, infants significantly reduced their vocalization rate. For these cooperatively breeding monkeys, the attachment object for infants is the family member that invested the most effort in carrying the infant and transferring food with the infant. These results parallel and extend results from bi-parental infant care species in which the father serves as the primary attachment figure. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Measuring corporate environmental performance: the trade-offs of sustainability ratings

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 4 2010
Magali Delmas
Abstract Socially responsible investing (SRI) represents an investment process that reflects environmental and social preferences. The financial industry is in a unique position to move corporations towards corporate sustainability. However, there is often little transparency regarding the metrics used to evaluate corporate social and environmental performance and the trade-offs involved in the evaluation. In this paper we discuss the various trade-offs of sustainability screening methodologies. We show that the rating of companies varies significantly according to whether the screening is based on toxic releases and regulatory compliance or on the quality of environmental policy and disclosure. We base our analysis on the evaluation of the performance of 15 firms in the chemical sector. The analysis indicates that firms that have the most advanced reporting and environmental management practices tend also to have higher levels of toxic releases and lower environmental compliance. We provide methodological recommendations to help stakeholders evaluate corporate environmental performance. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]