Situational Interdependence Scale (SIS)
In all social interactions, people are interdependent – meaning each person’s actions can affect their own and other’s outcomes. Yet, people do not have objective knowledge of the type of interdependence that characterizes any specific interaction. Nonetheless, people have an ability to make inferences about the type of interdependence in a situation and The Amsterdam Cooperation Lab has recently developed a theory (i.e., Functional Interdependence Theory; FIT) and measure (Situational Interdependence Scale; SIS) about this phenomenon.
Balliet, D., Tybur, J. M., & Van Lange, P. A. M. (2017). Functional interdependence theory: An evolutionary account of social situations. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21, 361-388.
Gerpott, F. H., Balliet, D., Columbus, S., Molho, C., & De Vries, R. E. (2018). How Do People Think About Interdependence? A Multidimensional Model of Subjective Outcome Interdependence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 115, 716-742.
The Situational Interdependence Scale (SIS) measures five dimensions that characterize how people think about their interdependence with others.
Mutual Dependence: Degree of how much each person’s outcomes are determined by how each person behaves in that situation.
Power: Degree to which an individual determines their own and others’ outcomes, while others do not influence their own outcome.
Conflict: Degree to which the behavior that results in the best outcome for one individual results in the worst outcome for the other.
Future Interdependence: Degree to which own and others’ behavior in the present situation can affect own and others behavior and outcomes in future interactions.
Information Certainty: Degree to which a person knows their partner’s preferred outcomes and how each person’s actions influence each other’s outcomes.
When using the scale, the researcher or practitioner should refer the respondent to a specified situation (see instructions). Below you can download the 30-Item and 10-Item versions of the SIS in English, Dutch, German, and Chinese. If you have any questions about using the scale, contact Daniel Balliet (d.p.balliet(at)vu.nl).
SIS – 30 Item & 10-Item Dutch Version
SIS – 30 Item & 10-Item German Version
SIS – 30 Item and 10-Item Chinese Version
Social Mindfulness
Most research on human cooperation focuses on high-cost contributions. Yet most social behaviors in everyday life focuses on low-cost cooperation such as acts of kindness, thoughtfulness, and considerateness – the smaller gestures that matter. We have addressed this topic by the concept of social mindfulness which refers to the ability to see opportunities for low-cost cooperation and willingness to act upon it. Social mindfulness is associated with self-reports of empathy and perspective taking, is neuro-scientifically linked to mentalizing, is predictive of donations to support victims of natural disasters, and differs across various societies around the world (see Van Doesum et al., 2021; see also Van Lange & Rand, 2022). More information about the construct and its measurement can be found here.