No abstract

In an anonymous 4-person economic game, participants contributed more money to a common project (i.e., cooperated) when required to decide quickly than when forced to delay their decision (Rand, Greene & Nowak, 2012), a pattern consistent with the social heuristics hypothesis proposed by Rand and colleagues. The results of studies using time pressure have been mixed, with some replication attempts observing similar patterns (e.g., and others observing null effects (e.g., Tinghög et al., 2013;Verkoeijen & Bouwmeester, 2014). This Registered Replication Report (RRR) assessed the size and variability of the effect of time pressure on cooperative decisions by combining 21 separate, preregistered replications of the critical conditions from Study 7 of the original article (Rand et al., 2012). The primary planned analysis used data from all participants who were randomly assigned to conditions and who met the protocol inclusion criteria (an intent-to-treat approach that included the 65.9% of participants in the time-pressure condition and 7.5% in the forced-delay condition who did not adhere to the time constraints), and we observed a difference in contributions of −0.37 percentage points compared with an 8.6 percentage point difference calculated from the original data. Analyzing the data as the original article did, including data only for participants who complied with the time constraints, the RRR observed a 10.37 percentage point difference in contributions compared with a 15.31 percentage point difference in the original study. In combination, the results of the intent-to-treat analysis and the compliant-only analysis are consistent with the presence of selection biases and the absence of a causal effect of time pressure on cooperation.

When people have the chance to help others at a cost to themselves, are cooperative decisions driven by intuition or reflection? To answer this question, recent studies have tested the relationship between reaction times (RTs) and cooperation, reporting both positive and negative correlations. To reconcile this apparent contradiction, we argue that decision conflict (rather than the use of intuition vs. reflection) drives response times, leading to an inverted-U shaped relationship between RT and cooperation. Studies 1 through 3 show that intermediate decisions take longer than both extremely selfish and extremely cooperative decisions. Studies 4 and 5 find that the conflict between self-interested and cooperative motives explains individual differences in RTs. Manipulating conflictedness causes longer RTs and more intermediate decisions, and RTs mediate the relationship between conflict and intermediate decisions. Finally, Studies 6 and 7 demonstrate that conflict is distinct from reflection by manipulating the use of intuition (vs. reflection). Experimentally promoting reliance on intuition increases cooperation, but has no effects on decision extremity or feelings of conflictedness. In sum, we provide evidence that RTs should not be interpreted as a direct proxy for the use of intuitive or reflective processes, and dissociate the effects of conflict and reflection in social decision making.

Eight seismically resolvable packages have been identified in the Early Tertiary succession of the Faeroe-Shetland Basin. These packages are calibrated with the microfaunal and microfloral biostratigraphy, thus allowing correlation between wells and comparison with other basins. Mapping of the facies distribution within each package has allowed a detailed understanding of the evolution of the southwestern part of the basin, including the Quad 204 acreage. The development of the area can be related to the plate tectonic evolution of the North Atlantic and has highlighted implications for hydrocarbon exploration. In the earliest part of the Palaeocene (Sequences T10–T32) the position of the shelf/slope break was controlled by the underlying end Cretaceous fault induced topography. The depositional character of the submarine fans which accumulated in the basin is aggradational, collecting in basin floor deeps and progressively onlapping basin floor highs. Reservoir quality is initially controlled by depositional facies but is, essentially, excellent. Basinal muds, particularly regionally extensive maximum flooding surfaces, are believed to provide effective seals. Sequences T36–T40 are progradational in character, the position of the shelf/slope break advancing significantly beyond the positions of underlying Cretaceous fault scarps. This change in depositional character is related to thermal doming and rifting in the North Atlantic. The results of this uplift in the Faeroe-Shetland Basin also instigated a change in sediment provenance, volcanism and the deposition of extensive base-of-slope fan systems. Reservoir effectiveness remains excellent in these fan systems and potential seals are provided by downlapping, progradational shelf/slope systems. Sequences T45 and T50 represent flooding of the Palaeocene shelf systems as the thermal dome collapsed and rifting progressed. The overall control on Early Tertiary reservoir effectiveness in the Faeroe-Shetland Basin is depth of burial. In this part of the basin the Early Tertiary reservoir sands are generally buried at depths less than 2.5 km below sea-bed and reservoir quality remains excellent (porosity > 25% and permeability > 100 Md). The challenge to the oil industry is to understand the charge of this attractive hydrocarbon play.