The selfish nature in interpersonal exchange among adolescents: imposing the kind and submitting to the exploitative

Abstract

AbstractBullying events during adolescence are common, yet it remains largely unclear which kinds of behavioral patterns are more likely to result in being exploited. Leveraging recent advances in computational modeling and experimental economics, this study examines whether being nice or tough during early social interactions will impact future interactions. Adolescents were randomly assigned to play a cooperation game with two different simulated partners. We found that participants were more likely to cooperate with the initially tough partner than with the initially nice partner. Computational modeling revealed that behavioral changes were driven by changes in perceived social rewards from reciprocity. Perceived social rewards mediated the effects of different partners on the participants’ cooperative behaviors. The results indicate that being nice is not a good strategy for building social cooperation, and advance our knowledge of how adolescents form sustained social relationships with peers and may have implications for the education field.Statement of RelevanceBullying events in high school have been extremely common across cultures. Most studies focus on the modulations of adolescent’s behaviors by a specific factor, e.g., education, parenting style or psychological distorter. Our study examines a more general question: whether and how the way of adolescents exhibit themselves would dynamically influence the way that other people treat them. Our findings suggest that being nice initially is not a good strategy for building social cooperation. Being nice early in a relationship will weaken the value of reciprocity perceived by others, which in turn results in being exploited. We regard our work as being of significance for the fields of psychological science, education and human morality. This study advances our knowledge of how adolescents form sustained social relationships with their peers, and it may have implications for the education field.