Cooperation in mixed-motive games: the role of individual differences in selfish and social orientation

In mixed-motive games, people must choose between acting upon selfish interests and concerns for others. Yet, the consistency of people’s behavior across these various games is still unclear. If the same conflict between self and others is at the core of all mixed-motive situations, three hypotheses can be stated:
(1) behaviors in different mixed-motive games should be substantially related,
(2) all these games should substantially appeal to dispositional variables that probe in the psychological conflict between self and others, and
(3) these dispositional variables should explain the shared variance among various games.

These hypotheses were tested among undergraduate students (N = 219) who played seven different single shot mixed-motive games and one sequential game. Social Value Orientation as well as the ideological attitudes Social Dominance Orientation and Right-Wing Authoritarianism were included as dispositions. Our findings, however, showed evidence that did not fully substantiate our hypotheses, which calls into question the general idea that all mixed-motive games render the conflict between selfish interests and concern for others salient. In the discussion, we focus on implications for research on mixed-motive situations, and elaborate on the role of ideology in this domain