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How do people assess the likelihood of personal risk in online activity? In three pilot experiments and one preregistered experiment, we tested the motivational and cognitive mechanisms that shape self and social judgments of cyber security. In Pilot Studies 1–3, we probed for evidence of differential use of base rate information in forecasting the likelihood oneself or another person would engage in a risky behavior. In the preregistered experiment, we gathered direct evidence of differential use of base rate information through covert eye-tracking. Data suggest people self-enhance when assessing risk, believing they are less likely than others to engage in actions that pose a threat to their cyber security, particularly because they rely less on base rate information when predicting their own behavior compared to others’ behavior. Self and social judgments were not different when scenarios posed no risk. We discuss implications for self-insight and interventions to curb risky behavior in online activity.
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Altruistic food sharing behavior by human infants after a hunger manipulation
Altruistic behavior entails giving valuable benefits to others while incurring a personal cost. A distinctively human form of altruistic behavior involves handing nutritious food to needy strangers, even when one desires the food. Engaging in altruistic food transfer, instead of keeping the food, is costly, because it reduces the caloric intake of the benefactor vis-à-vis the beneficiary. Human adults engage in this form of altruistic behavior during times of war and famine, when giving food to others threatens one’s own survival. Our closest living primate relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus), exhibit notable constraints on the proclivity to engage in such food transfer (particularly chimpanzees), although they share many social-cognitive commonalities with humans. Here we show that in a nonverbal test, 19-month-old human infants repeatedly and spontaneously transferred high-value, nutritious natural food to a stranger (Experiment 1) and more critically, did so after an experimental manipulation that imposed a feeding delay (Experiment 2), which increased their own motivation to eat the food. Social experience variables moderated the expression of this infant altruistic behavior, suggesting malleability.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1807789
- PAR ID:
- 10171238
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Scientific reports
- ISSN:
- 2045-2322
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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