Right vs. Left Political Orientation Predicts Behavior in Economic Games

Laboratory Experiment Political Ideology Prosocial Behavior Public Goodspublic goods gamePolitical Behavior @Pol. Behav.1 dataset Dataverse

This study investigates how political orientation influences actual social behavior using behavioral economics paradigms.

Participants: 454 large German sample members.

Methods: Public-Goods Game (PGG) and Trust Game (TG).

Key Results:

Right-of-center supporters showed lower monetary transfers on average
Left-of-center supporters demonstrated higher cooperative tendencies
These behaviors correlated negatively with conservatism/self-assessment scores
Patterns differed from those associated with right-of-center party policy support

Interestingly, these behavioral patterns diverged from results in the Lottery Game.

Findings:

The observed relationships appear distinct from previous studies linking ideology to game-theoretic behavior. The unique pattern emerges despite null findings regarding specific policy stances promoted by parties.

Conclusion:

Potential psychological mechanisms like Right-Wing-Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social-Dominance-Orientation (SDO) may explain these associations.

Article card for article: Political Orientation Is Associated With Behavior in Public-Goods- and Trust-Games

Political Orientation Is Associated With Behavior in Public-Goods- and Trust-Games was authored by Thomas GrÃ¼nhage and Martin Reuter. It was published by Springer in Pol. Behav. in 2022.