27.10.2024New publication: "Prosocial preferences can escalate intergroup conflicts by countering selfish motivations to leave"

Abstract: When defending against hostile enemies, individual group members canbenefit from others staying in the group and fighting. However, individualsthemselves may be better off by leaving the group and avoiding the personalrisks associated with fighting. While fleeing is indeed commonly observed,when and why defenders fight or flee remains poorly understood and isaddressed here with three incentivized and preregistered experiments (total n = 602). In stylized attacker-defender contest games in which defenders couldstay and fight or leave, we show that the less costly leaving is, the more likelyindividuals are to abandon their group. In addition, more risk-averse indivi-duals are more likely to leave. Conversely, individuals more likely stay and fightwhen they have pro-social preferences and when fellow group members can-not leave. However, those who stay not always contribute fully to groupdefense, to some degree free-riding on the efforts of other group members.Nonetheless, staying increased intergroup conflict and its associated costs.

Reference: Snijder, L. L., Gross, J., Stallen, M., & De Dreu, C. K. (2024). Prosocial preferences can escalate intergroup conflicts by countering selfish motivations to leave. Nature Communications, 15(1), 9009.

Link to publication