The present study tested how social information about the proposer biases responders’
choices of accepting or rejecting real monetary offers in a classic ultimatum game (UG)
and whether this impact is heightened by the uncertainty of the context. Participants in
our study conducted a one-shot UG in which their responses had direct consequences
on how much money they earned. We used trait-valenced words to provide information
about the proposers’ personal characteristics.The results show higher acceptance rates for
offers preceded by positive words than for those preceded by negative words. In addition,
the impact of this information was higher in the uncertain than in the certain context. This
suggests that when deciding whether or not to take money from someone, people take
into account what they know about the person they are interacting with. Such non-rational
bias is stronger in an uncertain context.
