TY - JOUR

T1 - Indian caste names and cooperation in the Prisoner’s Dilemma

AU - Tiwari, Shambhavi

AU - Ścigała, Karolina Aleksandra

AU - Schild, Christoph

AU - Zettler, Ingo

N1 - Funding Information: This investigation was funded by Grant 7024‐00057B from the Independent Research Fund Denmark to the last author. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Asian Association of Social Psychology and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Ingroup/outgroup categorisation is a repeatedly found phenomenon. Given the long-standing caste system, the Indian societal structure provides a unique perspective on such social categorisation. The Indian caste system contains hereditarily inherited identity roles defining profession and status-based hierarchies. In this preregistered experiment, we investigate the influence of caste-based identity on cooperation using a (hypothetical) Prisoner’s Dilemma. Specifically, Indian participants (N = 685) were paired with a (hypothetical) other in a Prisoner’s Dilemma, whose last name reflected either a general caste (i.e., a “high” caste) or a backward (“lower”) caste including the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, and other backward classes. Because participants indicated belonging to a general or a backward caste themselves, they thus played the (hypothetical) Prisoner’s Dilemma with either a member of the same or a different caste group. We did not find that the partner’s caste group membership in terms of stemming from an ingroup (same caste) or outgroup (different caste) influenced participants’ cooperation. Further, we found participants from the general caste to be more cooperative when paired with (hypothetical) backward caste others (outgroup), compared to backward caste participants when paired with (hypothetical) general caste participants (outgroup); however, this difference disappeared once controlling for other demographic characteristics.

AB - Ingroup/outgroup categorisation is a repeatedly found phenomenon. Given the long-standing caste system, the Indian societal structure provides a unique perspective on such social categorisation. The Indian caste system contains hereditarily inherited identity roles defining profession and status-based hierarchies. In this preregistered experiment, we investigate the influence of caste-based identity on cooperation using a (hypothetical) Prisoner’s Dilemma. Specifically, Indian participants (N = 685) were paired with a (hypothetical) other in a Prisoner’s Dilemma, whose last name reflected either a general caste (i.e., a “high” caste) or a backward (“lower”) caste including the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, and other backward classes. Because participants indicated belonging to a general or a backward caste themselves, they thus played the (hypothetical) Prisoner’s Dilemma with either a member of the same or a different caste group. We did not find that the partner’s caste group membership in terms of stemming from an ingroup (same caste) or outgroup (different caste) influenced participants’ cooperation. Further, we found participants from the general caste to be more cooperative when paired with (hypothetical) backward caste others (outgroup), compared to backward caste participants when paired with (hypothetical) general caste participants (outgroup); however, this difference disappeared once controlling for other demographic characteristics.

KW - (hypothetical) Prisoner’s Dilemma

KW - caste

KW - cooperation

KW - ingroup

KW - outgroup

KW - Social Dominance Orientation

U2 - 10.1111/ajsp.12512

DO - 10.1111/ajsp.12512

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85118852853

VL - 25

SP - 489

EP - 503

JO - Asian Journal of Social Psychology

JF - Asian Journal of Social Psychology

SN - 1367-2223

IS - 3

ER -