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A Social Dilemma Analysis of Commuting Preferences: The Roles of Social Value Orientation and Trust 1
Author(s) -
Van Lange Paul A. M.,
Vugt Mark Van,
Meertens Ree M.,
Ruiter Rob A. C.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1998.tb01732.x
Subject(s) - prosocial behavior , social psychology , honesty , social dilemma , psychology , social value orientations , value (mathematics) , social preferences , altruism (biology) , dilemma , orientation (vector space) , personality , microeconomics , economics , epistemology , machine learning , computer science , philosophy , geometry , mathematics
The current research advances a social dilemma analysis of commuting, examining the roles of preexisting personality differences in social value orientation (i.e., prosocial vs. proself orientation) and trust (i.e., a general belief in the honesty and cooperative intentions of others) in determining preferences for collectively desirable commuting options: preferences for commuting by public transportation (Study 1) and carpooling (Study 2). Consistent with predictions, both studies revealed that, relative to p of prosocials, preferences of proselfs were more strongly associated with beliefs about the relative efficiency of cars (i.e., an outcome affecting personal well‐being). Also, greater preferences for collectively desirable actions were observed among prosocials with high trust—relative to prosocials with low trust and proselfs with high or low trust—providing support for the claim that 2 conditions (i.e., prosocial goals and trust in others) must be met to obtain collectively desirable commuting preferences.