| Positive sanctions (rewards) and negative sanctions (punishments) can be highly effective means to promote cooperation in social dilemmas. But how willing are people to reward and punish others? We posit that the willingness to sanctions is only partly related to considerations of effectiveness. We draw special attention to the role of experienced and anticipated emotions, and their impact on the willingness to use positive/negative sanctions. Furthermore, we predict that the relative preference for rewards versus punishments is contingent on the (a) experienced uncertainty about others (un)cooperative behavior, (b) timing of the sanctioning decision, and (c) nature of the social dilemma. |
