Decomposing cultural differences in behavior toward members of different social groups

Abstract Prosocial behavior is a hallmark of human societies, yet its expression—and the benefits it confers—varies across cultures. While such variation is well documented, the underlying cognitive mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here we propose a decomposition of cultural differences in prosocial behavior into two key components: (i) social perception, capturing how cultural groups view others on dimensions of warmth and competence, and (ii) social valuation, reflecting how these perceptions influence the value of social actions. Using behavioral data from economic games involving participants in the U.S. and China (N = 5,428), we show strong evidence of a double dissociation at the level of between- and within-country variation: whereas social perception differences dominated in accounting for between-country differences, within-country differences were more driven by variation in social valuation. These findings offer a mechanistic account of cultural influences on prosocial behavior and highlight the value of computational approaches in cross-cultural research.