Does altruism reach beyond the ingroup?

A social orientation approach

Abstract

The experiment of this paper studied the role social orientation would play in double-dilemma situations. In a double-dilemma situation, social dilemmas exist both between and within groups; a cooperation choice at the within-groups level is considered a defection choice at the between-groups level, and vice versa. Using such a situation, whether “others” in other-orientedness are limited to those of the ingroup or include those of a competing group was examined. Each of 132 college students played both an ordinary social dilemma game and a doubledilemma game, with equivalent incentive structures. Subjects' social orientation was measured a few days after the experiment. Results indicated that other-oriented subjects thought only about ingroup members, and did not care much about the others. Furthermore, social orientation did not affect whether subjects acted similarly or differently for the two dilemma situations. Therefore, social orientation approach to intergroup conflicts apparently had its limitations.