Materials

Participants saw one of three dominant messages and one of three non-dominant messages:

dom_1: By now you know the task at hand. If you don’t complete it and do it well, you will not get the full bonus.
dom_2: All right, it’s go time. If you want to keep your entire bonus, you’re going to need to jump in and nail this task.
dom_3: Ok, get in there and do your absolute best across all rounds. If you don’t perform well, I will take away some or all of your bonus.

nondom_1: I appreciate your hard work. Just look at the shapes carefully and try to get as many as you can right.
nondom_2: Please complete this task to the best of your ability. Thanks!
nondom_3: Your job in this task is to select the shapes that match the description. Make sure you look at them carefully.

Measures

Message chosen

Which message did people select?

message_choice n
dom 11
nondom 19

Fantastic.

Predictions: Compliance

Do task

Will the employee do the task?

message prediction n
dom do-task 16
dom skip-task 14
nondom do-task 25
nondom skip-task 5

Performance

If they do the task, how many points will they score?

Predictions: Relationship

Another task: With manager

How much money will it take to get them do another task with this manager?

Another task: Random

How much money will it take to get them do another task with someone at random?

Very very nice.

Another task: Difference

Price of doing the task with the current manager MINUS price of doing the task with someone at random.

Liking

How much will the employee like the manager?

Punish decision

How much will they let the employee keep, based on their performance?

Competitive Worldview

1 = Strongly Disagree to 7 = Strongly Agree

1. It’s a dog-eat-dog world where you have to be ruthless at times
2. Life is not governed by the “survival of the fittest.” We should let compassion and moral laws be our guide [R]
3. There is really no such thing as “right” and “wrong.” It all boils down to what you can get away with
4. One of the most useful skills a person should develop is how to look someone straight in the eye and lie convincingly
5. It is better to be loved than to be feared [R]
6. My knowledge and experience tell me that the social world we live in is basically a competitive “jungle” in which the fittest survive and succeed, in which power, wealth, and winning are everything, and might is right
7. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and never do anything unfair to someone else [R]
8. Basically people are objects to be quietly and coolly manipulated for one’s own benefit
9. Honesty is the best policy in all cases [R]
10. One should give others the benefit of the doubt. Most people are trustworthy if you have faith in them [R]

Cronbach’s alpha = 0.82

Correlations

is_dom: dummy-coded message chosen (0 = nondom; 1 = dom).
again: price to get someone to do the new task with the current manager.
againrand: price to get someone to do the new task with someone at random.
again_diff: price of again MINUS price of againrand.
like: how much would the employee like the manager if sent this message.
comp: score the employee will get in the task if sent this message.

Break it down by specific message

Participants saw one of three dominant messages and one of three non-dominant messages:

dom_1: By now you know the task at hand. If you don’t complete it and do it well, you will not get the full bonus.
dom_2: All right, it’s go time. If you want to keep your entire bonus, you’re going to need to jump in and nail this task.
dom_3: Ok, get in there and do your absolute best across all rounds. If you don’t perform well, I will take away some or all of your bonus.

nondom_1: I appreciate your hard work. Just look at the shapes carefully and try to get as many as you can right.
nondom_2: Please complete this task to the best of your ability. Thanks!
nondom_3: Your job in this task is to select the shapes that match the description. Make sure you look at them carefully.

Message chosen

Which message did people select?

mes_dom mes_nondom message_choice n
1 1 dom 2
1 1 nondom 3
1 2 dom 1
1 3 dom 1
1 3 nondom 3
2 1 dom 1
2 1 nondom 2
2 2 dom 3
2 2 nondom 3
2 3 dom 1
3 1 nondom 1
3 2 dom 2
3 2 nondom 2
3 3 nondom 5

Predictions: Compliance

Dominant messages

Do task

Will the employee do the task?

mes_dom do-task skip-task
1 4 6
2 7 3
3 5 5

Performance

If they do the task, how many points will they score?

Non-Dominant messages

Do task

Will the employee do the task?

mes_nondom do-task skip-task
1 9 NA
2 7 4
3 9 1

Performance

If they do the task, how many points will they score?

Predictions: Relationship

Dominant messages

Another task

How much money will it take to get them do another task with this manager?

Liking

How much will the employee like the manager?

Non-Dominant messages

Another task

How much money will it take to get them do another task with this manager?

Liking

How much will the employee like the manager?