Social cognitive functioning relates to willingness to pay for social experiences

Human behavior is driven by a fundamental need for social connection, which requires the ability to assign subjective value to social experiences. Although social resources such as perceived social support and socio-affective traits are known to impact physical and mental well-being, their specific role in shaping social valuation remains unclear. In the present study, we employed a willingness-to-pay (WTP) paradigm to quantify the subjective value of social versus non-social experiences and examined how this valuation relates to individual differences in social functioning. Participants, on average, showed a preference for social experiences and were willing to pay more for them. Greater perceived social support was linked to a higher likelihood of choosing social options and to spending more money on social experiences overall. In contrast, individuals endorsing higher levels of autistic traits were less likely to choose social options and spent less on them. A principal components analysis identified three latent dimensions of socio-affective function: (1) socio-affective wellbeing; (2) reward sensitivity/ inhibition; and (3) interpersonal sensitivity. Regression analyses revealed that socio-affective wellbeing was negatively associated with social choice, whereas reward sensitivity and interpersonal sensitivity were positively associated. Taken together, our findings highlight the significance of individual differences in shaping social valuation, with implications into further understanding variability in social motivation and socio-affective function across populations.