Why and how identity should influence utility

Philipp C. Wichardt

This paper provides an argument for the advantage of a preference for identity-consistent behaviour from an evolutionary point of view. Within a stylised model of social interaction, we show that the development of cooperative social norms is greatly facilitated if the agents of the society possess a preference for identity consistent behaviour. As cooperative norms have a positive impact on aggregate outcomes, we conclude that such preferences are evolutionarily advantageous. Furthermore, we discuss how such a preference can be integrated in the modelling of utility in order to account for the distinctive cooperative trait in human behaviour and show how this squares with the evidence.

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Year of publication:	2007 ; This Version: January 11, 2007
Authors:	Wichardt, Philipp C.
Publisher:	Mannheim [u.a.] : Sonderforschungsbereich/Transregio 15
Subject:	cognitive dissonance \| fairness \| identity \| reciprocity \| social Norms \| social preferences \| utility \| Soziale Norm \| Social norm \| Soziale Wohlfahrtsfunktion \| Social welfare function \| Gerechtigkeit \| Justice \| Verhaltensökonomik \| Behavioral economics \| Persönlichkeitspsychologie \| Personality psychology \| Experiment \| Kognition \| Cognition \| Soziales Verhalten \| Social behaviour \| Spieltheorie \| Game theory \| Nutzen \| Utility \| Ultimatumspiel \| Ultimatum game \| Austauschtheorie \| Social exchange theory \| Eigeninteresse \| Self-interest