Effects of emotions on interpersonal strategies in the dictator game

Abstract

By experimental method, this research explored the effects of instant motion, relationship type and previous information of allocation on the selfishness of the interpersonal distribution in the dictator game. The results showed that (1) Emotion had a significant main effect on selfishness of the interpersonal distribution, happy feeling evoked more selfishness than sadness. Under the stranger condition, positive emotions evoked more selfishness than negative ones, but did not reach a significant level. (2)Under unfair condition, the happy mood induced significantly more selfishness than sadness, while under fair condition, happy mood and sad mood induced no significant difference. These results confirmed the mechanisms of emotional impact on selfish, and that negative emotion often produces adaptive and more socially sensitive outcomes. © 2012 Springer-Verlag GmbH.