How does self-esteem influence cooperative behavior in the face of social dilemmas? The findings of previous studies are inconsistent and ignore the distinction between giving and taking dilemmas. This study examined the relationship between self-esteem and cooperative behavior in giving and taking dilemmas. The results revealed that self-esteem positively predicted cooperative behavior in giving dilemmas but negatively predicted cooperative behavior in taking dilemmas (Study 1). This can be attributed to differential account attention and pathways to perceived competence. In the giving dilemma, individuals paid more attention to the public account and perceived giving more as more competent, whereas in the taking dilemma, individuals paid more attention to personal accounts and perceived taking more as more competent (Study 2). Changing account attention (by framing the giving-some, keeping-some, leaving-some, and taking-some dilemmas; Study 3) and the pathways to perceived competence (by associating contributing to the public interest with competence versus pursuing a personal interest with competence; Study 4) influenced the effect of self-esteem on cooperative behavior between the two dilemmas. These findings have implications for reconciling previous inconsistencies and understanding the mechanisms underlying the dual effect of self-esteem on cooperation; they also provide references for cooperative nudges for individuals with differing degrees of self-esteem.

中文翻译：

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给予更多还是索取更多？自尊对社会困境中合作行为的双重影响


自尊如何影响面对社会困境时的合作行为？以往的研究结果不一致，并且忽略了给予和索取困境之间的区别。这项研究探讨了在给予和接受困境中自尊与合作行为之间的关系。结果显示，自尊对给予困境时的合作行为有正向预测，但对采取困境时的合作行为有负向预测（研究 1）。这可以归因于不同的帐户关注和感知能力的途径。在给予困境中，个人更关注公共账户，并认为给予越多，就越有能力；而在索取困境中，个人更关注个人账户，并认为索取越多，越有能力（研究2）。改变客户注意力（通过构建给予一些、保留一些、留下一些和索取一些的困境；研究3）和感知能力的途径（通过将对公共利益的贡献与能力联系起来，而不是将追求个人利益与能力联系起来）能力；研究4）影响自尊对两种困境之间合作行为的影响。这些发现对于调和先前的不一致以及理解自尊对合作的双重影响的潜在机制具有重要意义；它们还为具有不同自尊程度的个人提供合作推动的参考。