Researchers have discovered that by observing how quickly individuals make social decisions, it is possible to deduce their hidden social preferences. The research reveals that when one is aware of the options someone else is considering and the time it takes them to make a decision, they can predict the other person’s preference even without knowing the specific choices.
Led by Sophie Bavard from the University of Hamburg in Germany, the study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology on June 20 showcases how individuals can infer concealed social preferences by observing the speed at which others make social decisions. The study highlights that understanding the decision time and options considered by others enables predicting their preferences, even in the absence of knowledge about the actual choices.
Traditionally, determining someone’s social preferences or beliefs posed a challenge as they are often undisclosed. Previous studies mainly focused on observing choices, whereas this new research delves deeper by examining both choices and decision time. Participants were tasked with playing the Dictator Game, where they had to decide how much to keep and give away. After acting as the dictator, participants were required to observe other dictators and forecast their preferred actions. The level of information provided to the participants varied, ranging from knowing decisions, decision time, both, or neither.
The researchers theorized that even without knowledge of decisions, understanding options and decision speed would allow predicting preferences. Computational analysis revealed that dictator behavior could be anticipated solely based on decision times using a reinforcement learning model. The study found that participants could learn the dictator’s preferences by solely knowing options and decision times, although their predictions were most accurate when they also knew the actual decisions. This indicates that time was utilized in the absence of decisions, broadening our comprehension of decision-making in social settings.
The researchers remark, “Our findings challenge the common notion that choices alone are the sole information for understanding others’ social preferences. Incorporating response times into models of how individuals learn from each other enables more precise predictions of human behavior, as response times provide a continuous measure reflecting the strength of these preferences, offering a more comprehensive insight.”
