Hands symbolizing care and power influencing economic decisions.

The Altruism Code: How Caring and Power Shape Your Decisions

Lena Voss in Mind & Education August 2025 • 3 min read.

"Unlocking the Hidden Motives Behind Cooperation and Punishment"

Traditional economics often paints a picture of humans as rational actors driven by stable, self-serving preferences. But what if our decisions are swayed by something more profound – deeply rooted motives that have evolved over millennia?

Enter the world of motivational psychology, which posits that human behavior is powerfully influenced by fundamental motives like affiliation, achievement, power, and, crucially, care. These motives, triggered by specific contexts, shape our actions with distinct psycho-physiological and behavioral patterns.

A fascinating new study published in Scientific Reports delves into this interplay, revealing how inducing feelings of care and power can dramatically alter economic decision-making. The findings challenge the traditional economic view and offer intriguing insights into the hidden forces behind cooperation and punishment.

Care vs. Power: Unpacking the Motives

Hands symbolizing care and power influencing economic decisions.

The researchers focused on two core motives: care and power. Care encompasses a desire to help others selflessly, echoing concepts like altruism and nurturance. Power, on the other hand, reflects a motivation to control, influence, and achieve a high status.

To explore these motives, the study employed clever inductions. Participants were either primed with a 'Care' motive by interacting with puppies (triggering the 'baby schema' response) or with a 'Power' motive by being assigned a leadership role in a hypothetical project.

Care Induction: Participants spent time with puppies, tapping into innate caretaking instincts.
Power Induction: Participants were designated as leaders with evaluative control over others' outcomes.
Control Condition: Participants read a neutral text passage.

Following these inductions, participants engaged in classic economic games involving monetary exchange, such as the trust game, dictator game, and ultimatum game. The results revealed a striking pattern: the Care induction boosted cooperative behaviors, while the Power induction amplified punishment-related actions.

Implications for a More Cooperative World

These findings have profound implications. By understanding the motives that drive our decisions, we can design environments and institutions that foster cooperation and prosocial behavior. Nurturing care motives may be key to building more collaborative communities, while channeling power motives towards constructive norm enforcement could create fairer societies. The future of economics may lie not just in rational calculations, but in understanding the depths of human motivation.

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Everything You Need To Know

What does the 'care' motive really mean?

The 'care' motive is a fundamental drive centered around helping others selflessly. It aligns with concepts like altruism and nurturance, prompting individuals to act in ways that benefit others, often without expecting anything in return. Inducing the care motive tends to boost cooperative behaviors, fostering collaboration and prosocial actions. The implications of the care motive extend to building more collaborative communities where individuals are inclined to support and assist one another, driven by genuine concern for the well-being of others.

What is the 'power' motive, and why is it important?

The 'power' motive is a drive focused on controlling, influencing, and achieving high status. It involves the desire to exert influence over others and attain positions of authority. Activation of the power motive often amplifies punishment-related actions, as individuals seek to enforce norms and maintain control. This can lead to the creation of fairer societies where rules are consistently applied and those who violate them are held accountable. Balancing the power motive with care is essential to prevent abuse and promote equitable outcomes.

What does motivational psychology tell us about why we do what we do?

Motivational psychology suggests that human behavior is significantly influenced by fundamental motives such as affiliation, achievement, power, and care. These motives are triggered by specific contexts and shape our actions, leading to distinct psycho-physiological and behavioral patterns. Motivational psychology provides a framework for understanding why people behave in certain ways and offers insights into the hidden forces behind our decisions. Recognizing the role of these motives can help design environments that foster cooperation and prosocial behavior.

What are economic games, and how are they used?

Economic games like the trust game, dictator game, and ultimatum game are classic tools used to study economic decision-making. In the trust game, one player decides how much money to give to another, who can then choose to reciprocate. The dictator game involves one player deciding how to split a sum of money with another player. The ultimatum game requires one player to propose a division of money, and the other player can either accept or reject the offer. These games help reveal how motives like care and power influence decisions related to cooperation, altruism, and fairness.

What is this 'baby schema' response mentioned and how does it relate to the care motive?

The 'baby schema' response refers to a set of instinctive caretaking behaviors triggered by features associated with babies, such as large eyes, round faces, and soft skin. This response taps into innate caretaking instincts, prompting individuals to feel nurturing and protective towards infants and young animals. Inducing a 'care' motive by exposing participants to puppies leverages the baby schema response to increase cooperative behaviors. This highlights how specific stimuli can activate fundamental motives and influence economic decision-making.