Remembering the bad ones: Does the source memory advantage for cheaters influence our later actions positively?

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that people remember information that is (emotionally) incongruent to their expectations, but it has left open the question if this memory enhancement has also an influence on our later actions. We investigated this question in one pilot study and two experiments. In all studies, participants first interacted with trustworthy and untrustworthy looking partners in an investment game. Facial trustworthiness was manipulated to stimulate social expectations about the behaviour of the partners. In a later second investment game, participants played against old opponents from the first game and new opponents. Overall, willingness to cooperate in the second game was influenced by the formerly behaviour of the opponent. However, facial trustworthiness affected economic decisions, too. Furthermore, we analysed source memory data that indicated no differences in memory between cheaters and cooperators. Instead, source guessing was related to cooperation: The more participants guessed that an untrustworthy looking face belonged to a cheater, the less they cooperated with untrustworthy looking opponents. Interestingly, in Experiment 2, we found a positive correlation between old-new recognition and later cooperation. In sum, the results demonstrate that memory and guessing processes can influence later decisions. However, economic decisions are also heavily affected by other social expectations like facial trustworthiness.