Table_1_Model-Based and Model-Free Social Cognition: Investigating the Role of Habit in Social Attitude Formation and Choice.docx

Do habits play a role in our social impressions? To investigate the contribution of habits to the formation of social attitudes, we examined the roles of model-free and model-based reinforcement learning in social interactions – computations linked in past work to habit and planning, respectively. Participants in this study learned about novel individuals in a sequential reinforcement learning paradigm, choosing financial advisors who led them to high- or low-paying stocks. Results indicated that participants relied on both model-based and model-free learning, such that each type of learning was expressed in both advisor choices and post-task self-reported liking of advisors. Specifically, participants preferred advisors who could provide large future rewards as well as advisors who had provided them with large rewards in the past. Although participants relied more heavily on model-based learning overall, they varied in their use of model-based and model-free learning strategies, and this individual difference influenced the way in which learning related to self-reported attitudes: among participants who relied more on model-free learning, model-free social learning related more to post-task attitudes. We discuss implications for attitudes, trait impressions, and social behavior, as well as the role of habits in a memory systems model of social cognition.

习惯是否会对我们的社会印象产生影响？为探究习惯对社会态度形成的作用，我们考察了无模型强化学习（model-free reinforcement learning）与基于模型的强化学习（model-based reinforcement learning）在社会互动中的角色——这两类计算过程在过往研究中分别对应习惯形成与规划行为。本研究的参与者在序列强化学习范式中对陌生个体进行学习：他们需要选择能够为自己带来高收益或低收益股票的理财顾问。研究结果表明，参与者同时依赖基于模型与无模型强化学习，且两种学习方式均体现在理财顾问选择以及任务后自我报告的对顾问的喜爱程度两方面。具体来说，参与者既偏好能够提供未来高额回报的顾问，也偏好过往曾为自己带来过高额回报的顾问。尽管整体上参与者更倾向于使用基于模型的强化学习，但不同个体在两类学习策略的使用上存在显著差异，且这种个体差异会影响学习过程与自我报告态度之间的关联：在更依赖无模型强化学习的参与者群体中，无模型社会学习与任务后态度的相关性更强。最后，我们讨论了该研究发现对态度、特质印象与社会行为的启示，以及习惯在社会认知记忆系统模型中的作用。