Go with feelings: heuristic information affects the prediction of social value orientation on encounter collaboration

Anonymous encounter cooperation is very common in human behavior. While different types of SVO affect cooperation, the effects on encounter collaboration have not been systematically studied. Here, we experimentally uncover the mechanisms underlying this behavior with SVO. Current study recruited 688 college students from southwest China, through social media and campus online forums. The participants’ average age was 21.4 years (SD = 2.05). During the experiment, the researchers manipulated group identity (dialect paradigm) and induced emotions (by showing a short movie). Participants completed measurements of SVO (using a social value orientation slider scale), social projection (using the false consensus paradigm), and initial cooperation (by playing a one-shot Prisoner’s Dilemma game). The results showed that SVO, social projection, and cooperation were positively associated. Mediation analyses indicated that social projection partly mediated the effect of SVO on cooperation. Moreover, the relationship between SVO and social projection was moderated by emotion and group identity. The findings suggest that when relying solely on intuition to make judgments, a person’s prosocial personality determines their decision to cooperate or not, based on heuristic information. Overall, this study strengthens the conceptual model of SVO and enhances our understanding of unexpected collaboration in some contexts.