Research Symposium

BIO

Danielle is currently in her 2nd year at FSU, double-majoring in Psychology & Criminology on a Pre-Law track. She is interested in pursuing civil rights/public interest law, as she is passionate about protecting and supporting underrepresented people in her community. She is also very passionate about psychology and understanding people, with her current research interests being understanding the underlying motivations for certain behaviors amongst different groups and individuals. Her current UROP endeavors display this with her involvement in Jose Martinez’ lab in the Department of Psychology under Dr. Jon Maner. In this team, she assists in conducting and analyzing group behavior studies that examine trait-linked reasons for performing certain punishment and/or restorative behaviors. Danielle believes that motivations play a big part in the legal system, so she wishes to gain psychological insight on such decision-making factors in order to tie study analysis into real-life problems/solutions in her career journey.

Mechanisms that promote cooperative behavior in groups

Abstract

Cooperation is crucial for human success. People cooperate with close friends and family, their community, and even complete strangers. One mechanism that promotes cooperation is punishment. The consequences associated with punishment include the prevention of future wrongdoings and setting a precedent of unacceptable behavior. Another (understudied) mechanism is reward, which can redeem the victim and increase downstream cooperation. The current work used the dual strategies framework of dominance and prestige to understand when and why people punish selfish others or reward cooperators.

Keywords: Decision-making, traits, cooperation, punishment, reward