Age-dependent changes in intuitive and deliberative cooperation

Abstract

Cooperation is one of the most advantageous strategies to have evolved in small- and large-scale human societies, often considered essential to their success or survival. We investigated how cooperation and the mechanisms influencing it change across the lifespan, by assessing cooperative choices from adolescence to old age (12–79 years, N = 382) forcing participants to decide either intuitively or deliberatively through the use of randomised time constraints. As determinants of these choices, we considered participants’ level of altruism, their reciprocity expectations, their optimism, their desire to be socially accepted, and their attitude toward risk. We found that intuitive decision-making favours cooperation, but only from age 20 when a shift occurs: whereas in young adults, intuition favours cooperation, in adolescents it is reflection that favours cooperation. Participants’ decisions were shown to be rooted in their expectations about other people’s cooperative behaviour and influenced by individuals’ level of optimism about their own future, revealing that the journey to the cooperative humans we become is shaped by reciprocity expectations and individual predispositions.

The dual-process approach to human sociality: Meta-analytic evidence for a theory of internalized heuristics for self-preservation.

“…Given that the internalization of strategies optimal for daily life varies based on social context, there is a pressing need for future research to explore cross-cultural differences. Moreover, apart from two exceptions that studied the cognitive underpinnings of cooperative behavior among adolescents (Nava et al, 2023) and children (Corbit et al, 2023), this research has mainly targeted adults. An essential future research avenue would be to trace the development of heuristics across different life stages.…”

Cooperative behavior in adolescents: a contribution of empathy and emotional regulation?

“…Cooperative behavior involves the interaction of two or more people who work together towards a common goal, with mutual benefits for everyone ( Gutiérrez-Roig et al, 2014 ; Nava et al, 2023 ). Some studies have suggested that the tendency to show cooperative behaviors could change with age ( Garaigordobil and García de Galdeano, 2006 ; Gilar Corbi et al, 2008 ; Eisenberg et al, 2010 ; Belli et al, 2012 ; Smith et al, 2013 ; Gutiérrez-Roig et al, 2014 ; Keil et al, 2017 ; Taheri et al, 2018 ; Castellano Navarro et al, 2019 ; Zhang et al, 2019 ; Nava et al, 2023 ).…”

“…Cooperative behavior involves the interaction of two or more people who work together towards a common goal, with mutual benefits for everyone ( Gutiérrez-Roig et al, 2014 ; Nava et al, 2023 ). Some studies have suggested that the tendency to show cooperative behaviors could change with age ( Garaigordobil and García de Galdeano, 2006 ; Gilar Corbi et al, 2008 ; Eisenberg et al, 2010 ; Belli et al, 2012 ; Smith et al, 2013 ; Gutiérrez-Roig et al, 2014 ; Keil et al, 2017 ; Taheri et al, 2018 ; Castellano Navarro et al, 2019 ; Zhang et al, 2019 ; Nava et al, 2023 ). In this direction, adolescents show a higher tendency to cooperate than children ( Fuentes and Fernández, 1993 ; Gutiérrez-Roig et al, 2014 ; Keil et al, 2017 ; Castellano Navarro et al, 2019 ), while adults show more cooperative behaviors than adolescents ( Belli et al, 2012 ; Taheri et al, 2018 ; Zhang et al, 2019 ; Nava et al, 2023 ).…”

“…The authors noted, however, that these results could be influenced by perceived proximity of their playmate, for example, being in an adjacent room. This perception of the proximity of the partner ( Belli et al, 2012 ) and other factors like the environmental context ( Taheri et al, 2018 ), the virtual or in-person situation ( Miwa and Terai, 2012 ; Taheri et al, 2018 ), a reciprocal behavioral ( Gutiérrez-Roig et al, 2014 ; Nava et al, 2023 ) and the belief of cooperation ( Zhang et al, 2019 ) shown to influence cooperative behavior in adolescents and adults. Nonetheless, particularly during adolescence, the results have been inconsistent about the cooperative behaviors: some studies being in favor of these behaviors ( Gutiérrez-Roig et al, 2014 ; Keil et al, 2017 ) while others supported equitable ( Belli et al, 2012 ) or even non-cooperatives behaviors ( Nava et al, 2023 ).…”

“…Moreover, most studies exploring cooperative behavior in adolescents have worked with samples without having distinguished the different stages typical of the adolescent period, which involves important cognitive and emotional changes ( Gaete, 2015 ; Tamayo Lopera et al, 2018 ). In this frame, the inconsistences about the cooperative behavior of adolescents ( Belli et al, 2012 ; Gutiérrez-Roig et al, 2014 ; Keil et al, 2017 ; Nava et al, 2023 ) could be explained by variations associated to successive levels of the adolescence evolution. Thus, it is still unknown whether the emotional regulation or empathy skills during the different stages of adolescence (early, middle, and late adolescence) are linked or not to the cooperative behavior as observed in adulthood ( Eisenberg et al, 2010 ; Glazer, 2021 ).…”