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Recent studies have identified several factors, such as negative affect or fairness concerns, that contribute to explaining the seemingly irrational behavior of receivers in the ultimatum game, namely rejecting unfair offers despite the corresponding personal loss. The opposite behavior, accepting offers, has often been attributed to rational decision-making, as predicted by rational choice theory. Based on this assumption, we investigated long reaction times as a behavioral variable and need for cognition as an individual differences variable as indicators of thoughtful and rational decision-making. To our surprise, we found both reaction times and need for cognition to predict rejection, rather than acceptance of unfair offers. Our results challenge the interpretation of acceptance vs. rejection in terms of rational vs. emotional accounts.
