TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2013//
TI  - Is it all about the self? The effect of self-control depletion on ultimatum game proposers
JO  - Frontiers in human neuroscience
A1  - Halali, Eliran
A1  - Bereby-Meyer, Yoella
A1  - Ockenfels, Axel
SP  - 240
EP  - 240
VL  - 7
IS  - 
N2  - In the ultimatum-game, as in many real-life social exchange situations, the selfish motive to maximize own gains conflicts with fairness preferences. In the present study we manipulated the availability of cognitive-control resources for ultimatum-game proposers to test whether preference for fairness is a deliberative cognitive-controlled act or an automatic act. In two experiments we found that a shortage of cognitive control (ego depletion) led proposers in the ultimatum game (UG) to propose significantly more equal split offers than non-depleted proposers. These results can be interpreted as resulting from an automatic concern for fairness, or from a greater fear of rejection, which would be in line with a purely self-interested response. To separate these competing explanations, in Experiment 2 we conducted a dictator-game in which the responder cannot reject the offer. In contrast to the increased fairness behavior demonstrated by depleted ultimatum-game proposers, we found that depleted dictator-game allocators chose the equal split significantly less often than non-depleted allocators. These results indicate that fairness preferences are automatically driven among UG proposers. The automatic fair behavior, however, at least partially reflects concern about self-interest gain. We discuss different explanations for these results.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1662-5161
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00240
ID  - ref1
ER  -