Potential mechanisms underlying effects of competition-outcome feedback and competition on cooperative behavior
’ cooperative behavior
Up to this point, we have observed that participants showed reduced trust toward opponents and decreased willingness to cooperate with opponents following negative feedback compared to positive feedback in the competition when there was a high risk of incurring personal costs (α = 1.4). In contrast, participants only showed a decreased willingness to cooperate with opponents following competition participation without relative performance feedback in the same context. In addition to theoretical considerations viewing trust and willingness to cooperate as potentially mediating variablesWhen comparing the defeated group with the victory group, we observed the presence of mediation by the level of trust participants felt toward opponents (Fig. Mediation results. The effect of competition-outcome feedback on participants’ cooperative behavior toward their opponents is mediated through trust (When comparing the uncertain competitive outcome group with the control group, we observed cooperative behavior toward opponents to be mediated by participants’ willingness to cooperate (Fig. 