Interpersonal misunderstanding is often rooted in noise, or discrepancies between intended and actual outcomes for an interaction partner due to unintended errors (e.g., not being able to respond to an E-mail because of a local network breakdown). How can one effectively cope with noise in social dilemmas, situations in which self-interest and collective interests are conflicting? Consistent with hypotheses, the present research revealed that incidents of noise exert a detrimental effect on level of cooperation when a partner follows strict reciprocity (i.e., tit for tat) but that this effect can be overcome if a partner behaves somewhat more cooperatively than the actor did in the previous interaction (i.e., tit for tat plus 1). Also, when noise was present, tit for tat plus 1 elicited greater levels of cooperation than did tit for tat, thereby underscoring the benefits of adding generosity to reciprocity in coping with noise in social dilemmas. The Discussion outlines implications of the present work for theories focusing on self-presentation and attribution, communication, and trust and prorelationship behavior.
Interactions in social life may be seriously affected by negative noise, whereby actual or perceived behavior is less cooperative than was intended (e.g., arriving late due to an unforeseen traffic jam). The present research examines whether negative noise exerts detrimental effects on impressions and cooperation and whether such effects could be reduced by communication. Consistent with hypotheses, Study 1 revealed that negative noise exerts detrimental effects on both impressions of partners' benign intent and cooperation and that these detrimental effects could be effectively reduced by communication about noise. Study 2 replicated both findings but only for individuals with low trust. Mediation analysis revealed that impressions of benign intent and prosocial interaction goals underlie the positive effects of communication on cooperation.It is an inevitable fact from social life that one's behavior is not always perceived or experienced by others as intended, and sometimes one is simply not able to act according to his or her intentions. For example, even if people are strongly determined to arrive on time for a meeting, their actions may be subject to unintended errors (e.g., taking the wrong exit, being held up by an unexpected traffic jam) that cause them to arrive late. In the context of social dilemmas (i.e., conflicts between self-interest and collective interest) such unintended errors are referred to as noise, which is defined as "discrepancies between intended and actual outcomes for an interaction partner due to unintended errors" (e.g., Van Lange, Ouwerkerk, & Tazelaar, 2002, p. 768; cf. Kollock, 1993;Wu & Axelrod, 1995).Of particular relevance to the present research is negative noise; that is, unintended errors that cause actual outcomes to be worse than intended. Relative to positive noise-that is, unintended errors that cause actual outcomes to be better than intendednegative noise is assumed to form a stronger challenge to trust and impressions of benign intent, as well as a stronger threat to cooperative interaction. For example, failure to respond to an e-mail message due to a computer network breakdown may cause misunderstanding, thereby exerting detrimental effects on impressions ("he always makes me wait") and future cooperation ("next time, I will make him wait as well"). Indeed, the concept of negative noise gives rise to several intriguing questions. Do incidents of negative noise always exert detrimental effects on impressions and cooperation? More important: What can people do to reduce such (assumed) detrimental effects? Is it possible to "undo" incidents of noise and, if so, how? Is it possible to undo noise by communication, informing the other when a particular interaction outcome was affected by noise ("I did not mean it that way")?The present research addresses these questions, thereby pursuing two complementary goals. First, we wish to demonstrate that incidents of negative noise (henceforth, noise) exert detrimental effects on impressions of interpersonal intent and coopera...
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