1. The competition dynamics of approach and avoidance motivations following interpersonal transgression.
- Author
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Shen, Bo, Chen, Yang, He, Zhewen, Li, Weijian, Zhou, Xiaolin, and Yu, Hongbo
- Subjects
decision dynamics ,mouse-tracking ,multiattribute decision ,social transgression ,social-affective state ,Humans ,Motivation ,Emotions ,Social Behavior ,Social Interaction ,Interpersonal Relations - Abstract
Two behavioral motivations coexist in transgressors following an interpersonal transgression-approaching and compensating the victim and avoiding the victim. Little is known about how these motivations arise, compete, and drive transgressors decisions. The present study adopted a social interaction task to manipulate participants (i.e., the transgressor) responsibility for anothers (i.e., the victim) monetary loss and measure the participants tradeoff between compensating the victim and avoiding face-to-face interactions with the victim. Following each transgression, participants used a computer mouse to choose between two options differing in the amount of compensation to the victim and the probability of face-to-face contact with the victim. Results showed that as participants responsibility increased, 1) the decision weights on contact avoidance relative to compensation increased, and 2) the onset of the contact-avoidance attribute was expedited and that of the compensation attribute was delayed. These results demonstrate how competing social motivations following transgression evolve and determine social decision-making and shed light on how social-affective state modulates the dynamics of decision-making in general.
- Published
- 2023