Beneficial Betrayal Aversion

Many studies demonstrate the social benefits of cooperation. Likewise, recent studies convincingly demonstrate that betrayal aversion hinders trust and discourages cooperation. In this respect, betrayal aversion is unlike socially “beneficial” preferences including altruism, fairness and inequity aversion, all of which encourage cooperation and exchange. To our knowledge, other than the suggestion that it acts as a barrier to rash trust decisions, the benefits of betrayal aversion remain largely unexplored. Here we use laboratory experiments with human participants to show that groups including betrayal-averse agents achieve higher levels of reciprocity and more profitable social exchange than groups lacking betrayal aversion. These results are the first rigorous evidence on the benefits of betrayal aversion, and may help future research investigating cultural differences in betrayal aversion as well as future research on the evolutionary roots of betrayal aversion. Further, our results extend the understanding of how intentions affect social interactions and exchange and provide an effective platform for further research on betrayal aversion and its effects on human behavior.

诸多研究均证实了合作的社会增益价值。同样，近期的研究也确凿证实了背叛厌恶（betrayal aversion）会阻碍信任建立，并抑制合作行为的发生。就此而言，背叛厌恶与利他主义（altruism）、公平偏好（fairness）及不平等厌恶（inequity aversion）这类具备社会"增益性"的偏好截然不同——后者均能促进合作与社会交换活动。据我们所知，除了有观点提出背叛厌恶会成为仓促信任决策的阻碍之外，其本身的积极价值迄今尚未得到充分探索。本研究通过面向人类被试的实验室实验发现，相较于不具备背叛厌恶倾向的群体，包含具有背叛厌恶倾向个体的群体能够实现更高水平的互惠行为，并获得更具收益性的社会交换成果。本研究结果首次为背叛厌恶的积极价值提供了严谨的实证依据，或将为未来针对背叛厌恶的文化差异及其演化根源的相关研究提供助力。此外，本研究成果深化了学界对意图如何影响社会互动与交换的认知，并为后续围绕背叛厌恶及其对人类行为的影响展开的研究搭建了有效的研究平台。