The influence of third-party's power on multi-player fairness decision-making

People's fairness decision-making depends not only on whether they themselves are treated fairly, but also on their consideration of other members of society. Our study employed the modified three-person ultimatum game and combined it with computational modeling methods to investigate the influ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xiaoqing Lu, Te Li, Baoming Li, Zhong Yang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-07-01
Series:Acta Psychologica
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825004019
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849694523307851776
author Xiaoqing Lu
Te Li
Baoming Li
Zhong Yang
author_facet Xiaoqing Lu
Te Li
Baoming Li
Zhong Yang
author_sort Xiaoqing Lu
collection DOAJ
description People's fairness decision-making depends not only on whether they themselves are treated fairly, but also on their consideration of other members of society. Our study employed the modified three-person ultimatum game and combined it with computational modeling methods to investigate the influence of third-party's decision making power (powerless vs. power) on multi-player fairness decision-making. Our results indicated that participants exhibited varying degrees of inequity aversion to different players. The computational modeling results showed that people enforced the fairness norm when the third party was powerless, and enforced both the fairness norm and the social comparison norm when the third party had power. Moreover, the diffusion of responsibility might attenuate punishment to norm violations in the presence of power third party. This study shed light on the influence of third party's power and improved the inequity aversion theory in multi-player context, and may contribute to promoting cooperation and norm compliance behavior.
format Article
id doaj-art-2e9a0bcc24de4497b0d06b2c73ebeaf8
institution DOAJ
issn 0001-6918
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Acta Psychologica
spelling doaj-art-2e9a0bcc24de4497b0d06b2c73ebeaf82025-08-20T03:20:02ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182025-07-0125710508810.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105088The influence of third-party's power on multi-player fairness decision-makingXiaoqing Lu0Te Li1Baoming Li2Zhong Yang3Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China; Institute of Brain Science and Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, ChinaZhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China; Department of Psychology, Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, ChinaZhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China; Institute of Brain Science and Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China; Corresponding authors at: Institute of Brain Science and Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, 2318 Yuhangtang Road, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China; Institute of Brain Science and Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China; Department of Psychology, Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China; Corresponding authors at: Institute of Brain Science and Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, 2318 Yuhangtang Road, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.People's fairness decision-making depends not only on whether they themselves are treated fairly, but also on their consideration of other members of society. Our study employed the modified three-person ultimatum game and combined it with computational modeling methods to investigate the influence of third-party's decision making power (powerless vs. power) on multi-player fairness decision-making. Our results indicated that participants exhibited varying degrees of inequity aversion to different players. The computational modeling results showed that people enforced the fairness norm when the third party was powerless, and enforced both the fairness norm and the social comparison norm when the third party had power. Moreover, the diffusion of responsibility might attenuate punishment to norm violations in the presence of power third party. This study shed light on the influence of third party's power and improved the inequity aversion theory in multi-player context, and may contribute to promoting cooperation and norm compliance behavior.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825004019Fairness decision makingThree-person ultimatum gameInequity aversionSocial comparison
spellingShingle Xiaoqing Lu
Te Li
Baoming Li
Zhong Yang
The influence of third-party's power on multi-player fairness decision-making
Acta Psychologica
Fairness decision making
Three-person ultimatum game
Inequity aversion
Social comparison
title The influence of third-party's power on multi-player fairness decision-making
title_full The influence of third-party's power on multi-player fairness decision-making
title_fullStr The influence of third-party's power on multi-player fairness decision-making
title_full_unstemmed The influence of third-party's power on multi-player fairness decision-making
title_short The influence of third-party's power on multi-player fairness decision-making
title_sort influence of third party s power on multi player fairness decision making
topic Fairness decision making
Three-person ultimatum game
Inequity aversion
Social comparison
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825004019
work_keys_str_mv AT xiaoqinglu theinfluenceofthirdpartyspoweronmultiplayerfairnessdecisionmaking
AT teli theinfluenceofthirdpartyspoweronmultiplayerfairnessdecisionmaking
AT baomingli theinfluenceofthirdpartyspoweronmultiplayerfairnessdecisionmaking
AT zhongyang theinfluenceofthirdpartyspoweronmultiplayerfairnessdecisionmaking
AT xiaoqinglu influenceofthirdpartyspoweronmultiplayerfairnessdecisionmaking
AT teli influenceofthirdpartyspoweronmultiplayerfairnessdecisionmaking
AT baomingli influenceofthirdpartyspoweronmultiplayerfairnessdecisionmaking
AT zhongyang influenceofthirdpartyspoweronmultiplayerfairnessdecisionmaking