Fig. 3: Participants cluster into three groups, characterized by the weight they assign to the valence of information, its instrumentality, and the receiver’s uncertainty when deciding to inform the self and others.
We calculated the weights each participant assigned to each of the three factors (instrumentality, valence, and uncertainty) when seeking and sharing information (Exp. 1: NSeeking = 114 and NSharing = 109; Replication: NSeeking = 102 and NSharing = 100). The obtained betas were submitted into a cluster analysis to identify groups of participants that have similar combinations of weights when seeking or sharing information. a–d Plotted are the average beta coefficients assigned to each factor, averaged across participants in each cluster. As can be seen, the Instrumentality-Dominant group put the most weight on the instrumental value of information, the valence–dominant group put the most weight on valence, the Uncertainty-Dominant group put the most weight on uncertainty, and the Valence–Certainty–Dominant group put the most weight on valence and negative weight on uncertainty (which can be framed as positive weights on certainty). e–h The weights of individual participants assigned to each of the three motives are plotted with participants colored according to their assigned cluster. Ellipsoid highlights 50% of the data. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001; Error bars represents SEM.
