TY - JOUR
T1 - Free to choose
T2 - Mutualist motives for partner choice, proportional division, punishment, and help
AU - Lin, Chien An
AU - Bates, Timothy C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by PPLS PhD student research support grants. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
PY - 2022/5/5
Y1 - 2022/5/5
N2 - Mutualism-the disposition to cooperate in ways that benefit both actor and recipient-has been proposed as a key construct in the evolution of cooperation, with distinct adaptations for 1) partner choice, 2) division, 3) punishment, and 4) helping. However, no psychological validation of this 4-fold psychological structure exists, and no measure of the trait is available. To fill this need, in two pre-registered studies (total N = 902), we: (A) Develop and administer items assessing each of the four mutualist adaptations; (B) Show good fit to the predicted four factor model; (C) Demonstrate reliability and stability across time; (D) Evidence discriminant validity from existing constructs, including compassion and utilitarianism; (E) Establish external validity by predicting proportional choices in catch division, opposition to partner coercion, and reduced support for redistribution; and (F) Replicate each of these findings. Jointly, these results support the validity of mutualism, including a motive to maintain the freedom to choose, and provide reliable scales for use in integrating, further developing, and applying mutualism.
AB - Mutualism-the disposition to cooperate in ways that benefit both actor and recipient-has been proposed as a key construct in the evolution of cooperation, with distinct adaptations for 1) partner choice, 2) division, 3) punishment, and 4) helping. However, no psychological validation of this 4-fold psychological structure exists, and no measure of the trait is available. To fill this need, in two pre-registered studies (total N = 902), we: (A) Develop and administer items assessing each of the four mutualist adaptations; (B) Show good fit to the predicted four factor model; (C) Demonstrate reliability and stability across time; (D) Evidence discriminant validity from existing constructs, including compassion and utilitarianism; (E) Establish external validity by predicting proportional choices in catch division, opposition to partner coercion, and reduced support for redistribution; and (F) Replicate each of these findings. Jointly, these results support the validity of mutualism, including a motive to maintain the freedom to choose, and provide reliable scales for use in integrating, further developing, and applying mutualism.
KW - mutualism
KW - scientific beneficence
KW - decision making
KW - criminal punishment
KW - built structures
KW - psychological attitudes
KW - psychometrics
KW - crime
UR - https://osf.io/8zay2/
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0266735
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0266735
M3 - Article
C2 - 35511933
AN - SCOPUS:85129405199
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 17
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 5
M1 - e0266735
ER -