| How do we interpret others behavior when we lack important pieces of information? Do we give others the benefit of the doubt, believing that they behave in a fair or even generous manner? Or do we fill in the blanks with self-interest? Based on previous research showing that global beliefs about others in general are guided by self-interest, the present project aims to demonstrate that in people s attempts to make sense of the social environment, they fill in the missing information with a self-interest frame of mind. That is, when observing overt behavior of others under incomplete information, people overestimate outcomes others allocate to themselves. The second main goal is to demonstrate that this initial overestimation of others self-interest has serious behavioral consequences in dyadic interactions. That is, because of people s strong tendency to reciprocate, overestimation of others self-interest leads to reduced cooperation and a systematic deviation from reciprocity. Finally, the present project investigates how people use information as a resource in building reputation and eliciting cooperation from others. In general, the overarching theme of the project is to investigate how information, or lack of it thereof, influences outcome evaluations, person perception and cooperative behavior, and how people use information to achieve their interaction goals. |
