Social mindfulness and social hostility

• Introduces two new concepts, social mindfulness and social hostility.
• These concepts extend economic games by focusing on low-cost actions of cooperation.
• Provides a novel, behavioral measures of social mindfulness and social hostility.
• Advances the argument that it often takes only a small gesture to promote trust and cooperation.
• Conclusion: It is not only the outcomes that matter, but also the thought that counts.

Economic games often assume that people see what the other wants, and that cooperation brings about substantial costs. We examine social mindfulness and social hostility, relatively non-costly actions, that require a social mind, and that may have profound effects on others. Four propositions delineate the causes, workings, and consequences of social mindfulness and social hostility. The broad take-home message is that it often takes only a small gesture to promote and perhaps restore trust and cooperation (social mindfulness) or an equally small gesture to signal the wish to keep distance or spite the other (social hostility). Either way, it is not only outcomes that matter, but also the thought that counts.