Figure 1
Modified Pain Dictator Game.
(a) In each of three possible action frames the dictator was given the opportunity to alter or leave unchanged default allocations of 24 brief, moderately painful, cutaneous electric shocks between themselves and another participant, termed the Receiver. In a Give frame the dictator could choose to either give six of their allocated shocks to the Receiver, or leave the allocation unchanged. In a Take frame the Dictator could choose to either take on six of the Receiver’s shocks, or leave the allocation unchanged. In a Give or Take frame both giving and taking options were available, as well as the option to leave the default unchanged. (b) Choice options within each frame. Allocations are in the format [shocks for Dictator—shocks for Receiver]. The number of shocks allocated to the Receiver, highlighted in bold, was termed the ‘offer’. Asterisks indicate the default allocation (which would result if participants chose ‘leave unchanged’). We also implemented equivalent choices for money, in which shocks were simply replaced with sums of money in pounds sterling (money gain condition) or with amounts of debt in pounds sterling (money loss condition). Since debt in the money loss condition was subtracted from an endowment of £24, the net allocations under the two conditions were equivalent. In both forms of the task a selection of choices were implemented.
