Money can buy cooperation, but deep-seated biases remain stubbornly unchanged

In business, marketing and social work, financial incentives are often used to increase people’s motivation, guide their behavior and achieve lasting success. However, the latter is not always the case, as a recent study in Royal Society Open Science by the University Hospital of Würzburg (UKW) shows. Prof. Dr. Grit Hein and her team at the Center for Translational Social Neuroscience at the Center for Mental Health (ZEP) investigated whether people from a particular group would approach a foreign group if they received money for doing so.

In fact, rewards and punishments changed behavior in the studies, but not attitudes. Fundamental prejudices against the foreign group remained. This means that reward systems can open doors and enable the first step toward contact. However, in order to break down deep-rooted prejudices and change attitudes in the long term, additional strategies are needed, such as shared experiences, dialogue or long-term encounters between the groups.

The study was conducted as part of the Research Training Group 2660: Approach-Avoidance. “This study addresses the fascinating questions of why and how we approach or avoid certain stimuli or people, and what happens when a conflict arises,” says Jasper Bischofberger, lead author of the study. “We can study approach and avoidance behavior in a very fundamental way in animal experiments using rewards and punishment stimuli, but also in humans in social contexts.”

Priming: Typical characteristics of the in-group and out-group and assignment of abstract symbols

For the so-called priming in the learning study, the test subjects with German nationality were first asked to write down five adjectives that they associated with a person of their own nationality, i.e. their own social in-group. They were also asked to name five typical characteristics that came to mind when they thought of a person with Chinese nationality. This was the out-group. They then completed impression scales and assigned two abstract geometric symbols—a diamond and a hexagon—to the in-group and out-group.

“The symbols had no meaning or value, so that specific associations with these symbols could be induced in a controlled manner,” said Bischofberger.

In the main part of the learning experiment, the participants saw a game character representing themselves on a monitor. Using a cursor, they could move the person back and forth on a horizontal line between the diamond and the hexagon. Most were initially drawn to their own group.

Learning experience changes avoidance and approach biases

“This clearly demonstrated the so-called ingroup bias. People prefer to approach their own kind and favor individuals who belong to their own group,” explains Hein.

To test whether financial incentives could change this approach-avoidance behavior, the test subjects were given a small cash prize with varying probabilities when they approached the figure symbolizing the foreign group. As soon as they approached the symbol of their own group again, money was deducted from their prize.

“We bribed them, in a sense,” says Hein. “It was only a minimal amount, 5 pence, but we know from other studies that this works very well.”

However, the study participants were not aware of the financial incentive at the outset. They first had to learn which behavior would bring them the greatest profit.

‘Even in such an artificial study, the bias is extremely strong.’

In fact, the study participants changed their behavior during the learning study depending on these financial rewards and punishments. If approaching the other group was rewarded, the avoidance tendency decreased noticeably. Punishments were less effective than rewards. Control studies in which the symbols had no social meaning did not show these effects. In other words, behavioral prejudices only diminished when the symbols were socially charged and represented group membership.

Although the participants adjusted their behavior in the course of the learning study, their personal impressions and attitudes towards the out-group remained stable after the learning task.

“The study clearly illustrates the limitations of financial incentives. Financial incentives can make people approach someone, but their opinions do not change. Even in such an artificial study, the bias is extremely strong,” notes Hein.

The word “bias” refers to a systematic distortion or inclination that influences neutral judgment, behavior or results. In science and technology, bias stands for an error, while in a social context it stands for prejudice. People can develop bias both for and against an individual, a group or a belief. A major and still relevant issue is gender bias. The resulting systematic distortions influence perceptions and decisions in many areas and can lead to disadvantages. For example, in career opportunities or medical care.

Social prediction errors: Social learning occurs when expectations and predictions are broken

Bonuses or financial incentives for involving underrepresented groups can be a first step in establishing contact, but this does not mean that these individuals are treated equally. To achieve this, other forms of learning must follow.

In a cross-cultural study soon to be published, Hein and an international team were able to show that prejudice towards strangers can be “unlearned” in German and Chinese test subjects when Western and East Asian participants learn from negative experiences with their own group. They had expected something positive from their own group, but got the opposite. Their expectations were disappointed, which improved their attitude towards the foreign group. East Asian participants only changed their attitude towards their own group if they did not identify strongly with it.

Back to the reward system, which is also frequently used in education. An example: if you do your homework, you get an ice cream. The tasks may be completed, but not the attitude towards them. “It would be more sustainable if the child themselves felt how they were growing through their homework and, for example, received positive social feedback at school,” says Hein.

Shared interests can help break down barriers

The psychologist draws a connection back to the study: “In order to get closer and create encounters, incentives may be necessary, but in order to break down prejudices, more is needed. We must enable and establish social learning experiences and try to challenge an exaggerated positive image of the ingroup or a negative image of the outgroup.”

The adjectives that the study participants initially noted down are generally not personal experiences, but rather inherited prejudices. In order to break down barriers between groups of different nations, Grit Hein suggests fostering social learning experiences in daily life due to sports, cooking, crafts, or common professional goals and interests. Purely financial incentives could also backfire, the scientist warns. If people feel that they are being bought to think or behave differently, this can actually reinforce prejudices, especially if the financial incentives are made public.