Decision-induced focusing in social dilemmas: Give-some, keep-some, take-some, and leave-some dilemmas

Previous research on asymmetric social dilemmas has suggested that public g ood dilemmas evoke different choice behaviors than do resource dilemmas. Th e authors propose that these differences reflect a differential focus that is dependent on the way decisions are generally presented in the dilemma ty pes. In agreement with this, the results of 2 experimental studies suggest that, in public good dilemmas, group members are less focused on the conseq uences of their actions for the final outcome distribution when deciding ho w many endowments they give to the public good than when deciding how many endowments they keep for themselves. In resource dilemmas, group members ar e less focused on the final outcome distribution when deciding how many end owments they leave in the collective resource than when deciding how many e ndowments they take.