title: Trustworthiness and Negative Affect Predict Economic Decision-Making.
abstract: The Ultimatum Game (UG) is a widely used and well-studied laboratory model of economic decision-making. Here, we studied 129 healthy adults and compared demographic (i.e., age, gender, education), cognitive (i.e., intelligence, attention/working memory, speed, language, visuospatial, memory, executive functions), and personality (i.e., "Big Five", positive affect, negative affect) variables between those with a "rational" versus an "irrational" response pattern on the UG. Our data indicated that participants with "rational" UG performance (accepting any offer, no matter the fairness) endorsed higher levels of trust, or the belief in the sincerity and good intentions of others, while participants with "irrational" UG performance (rejecting unfair offers) endorsed higher levels of negative affect, such as anger and contempt. These personality variables were the only ones that differentiated the two response patterns-demographic and cognitive factors did not differ between rational and irrational players. The results indicate that the examination of personality and affect is crucial to our understanding of the individual differences that underlie decision-making.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Division of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Iowa College of Medicine ; Counseling Psychology Program, Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations, University of Iowa College of Education.
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koenigs
authors.forename: Torricia H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Shu Hao
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Teo
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Cavanaugh
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tranel
authors.forename: Natalie L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Denburg
keywords: Ultimatum Game; decision making; negative affect; trustworthiness