The intuition of punishment: a study of fairness preferences and cognitive ability (Q2221268)

Summary: Can differences in cognitive reflection explain other-regarding behavior? To test this, I use the three-item cognitive reflection task to classify individuals as \textit{intuitive} or \textit{reflective} and correlate this measure with choices in three games that each subject participates in. The main sample consists of 236 individuals who completed the \textit{dictator game}, \textit{ultimatum game} and a \textit{third-party punishment task}. Subjects afterwards completed the three-item cognitive reflection test. Results showed that \textit{intuitive} individuals acted more prosocially in all social dilemma tasks. These individuals were more likely to serve as a norm enforcer and \textit{third-party punish} a selfish act in the \textit{dictator game}. \textit{Reflective} individuals were found more likely to act consistently in a self-interested manner across the three games.