Social value orientation as a moral intuition: Decision-making in the dictator game

We studied the decision making process in the Dictator Game and showed that decisions are the result of a two-step process. In a first step, decision makers generate an automatic, intuitive proposal. Given sufficient motivation and cognitive resources, they adjust this in a second, more deliberated phase. In line with the social intuitionist model, we show that one’s Social Value Orientation determines intuitive choice tendencies in the first step, and that this effect is mediated by the dictator’s perceived interpersonal closeness with the receiver. Self-interested concerns subsequently lead to a reduction of donation size in step 2. Finally, we show that increasing interpersonal closeness can promote pro-social decision-making.Dictator game; social dilemma; decision-making; two stage model; social value orientation, interpersonal closeness

Whatever people say I am, that's what I am: Social labeling as a social marketing tool.

In this paper, we present a procedure to apply the social labeling technique as a social marketing tool. With four studies, we tested its potential for the promotion of pro-environmental consumer behavior. The procedure first provokes an environmentally friendly act and, subsequently, invites the target to attribute that behavior to his personal values, by communicating a social label. If successful, consumers will act upon the resulting self-perception as an environmentally friendly person. Results indicated that social labeling is more successful when cognitive resources are distracted, either at the moment of processing the label, or at the moment of making decisions related to the content of the label. Second, we found that the social label not merely guides subsequent decisions, but motivates people to re-interpret their previous behavior.Distraction effects; Ecological consumer behavior; Mindlessness in consumer decision making; Persuasion; Social labelling; Social marketing; Marketing; Tool; Studies; IT; Promotion; Consumer behavior; Behavior; Personal; Value; Cognitive; Decisions; Decision;

Social value orientation as a moral intuition: Decision making in the dictator game.

We studied the hypothesis that social value orientations are expressed automatically in behavior, as would be suggested by the social intuitionist model. We observed automatic and deliberated decisions in the dictator game and confirmed that social values determine behavior when responses are based on the intuitive system. By means of both mediation and experimental analyses we further demonstrate that the automatic expression of social value orientations is mediated by perceptions of interpersonal closeness. Conscious deliberation can subsequently override these automatic responses and disconnects dictator game decisions from perceptions of interpersonal closeness. This results in lower levels of other-regarding behavior, at least for prosocials.dictator game; social dilemma; dual processes; social value orientation; interpersonal closeness;

Rendering sustainable consumer behavior more sustainable : psychological tools for marketing pro-social commitment.

This dissertation deals with persuasive communication in the context of social marketing, which is a field devoted to the promotion of socially desirable behavior. We focused on the promotion of pro-environmental behavior. The decision whether or not to behave environmentally friendly confronts the individual with a social dilemma. This is a choice between an option that serves the collective interest and an option that serves his or her self-interest. Choosing the environmentally friendly option is in the interest of others (e.g., the community, society, even future generations) but is often associated with a cost to the individual, like money, time, effort, or inconvenience. Therefore, convincing an individual to behave environmentally friendly implies persuading him or her to pursue the interest of others at the cost of his or her immediate self-interest. The social marketing approach traditionally relies on the assumption that successful behavioral change towards serving the collective interest, directly follows from having people think about the consequences of behavioral alternatives. Informational and educational campaigns based on this idea have indeed been very successful at generating awareness and concern about environmental issues, but, in contrast, disappointingly unsuccessful at making people change their behavior. We propose an complementary approach that consists of activating the right pro-environmental value in a more subtle way. We found, using laboratory games with a social dilemma structure, that decisions can be based on either an intuitive or a more rational system. People with pro-social values tend to behave more pro-socially than people with pro-self values when they followed their intuitive system. However, when thinking more rationally, pro-socials and pro-selfs behaved equally selfishly. Thinking seems to enable individuals to find justifications for behaving selfishly. Therefore we present two persuasion techniques, which do not motivate people to think, but which simply suggest or remind people that they hold pro-environmental values. Positive cueing reminds people of cases in which they behaved pro-environmentally in the past, and social labeling describes a person as being concerned with the environment. Both tools were more successful at producing more environmentally friendly behavior than educational campaigns.

Consumer motivation to recycle when recycling is mandatory: Two exploratory studies.

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Rules or consequences? The role of ethical mindsets in moral dynamics

Recent research on the dynamics of moral behavior has documented two contrasting phenomena - moral consistency and moral balancing. Moral balancing refers to the phenomenon whereby behaving (un)ethically decreases the likelihood of doing so again at a later time. Moral consistency describes the opposite pattern - engaging in (un)ethical behavior increases the likelihood of doing so later on. Three studies support the hypothesis that individuals' ethical mindset (i.e., outcome-based versus rule-based) moderates the impact of an initial (un)ethical act on the likelihood of behaving ethically in a subsequent occasion. More specifically, an outcome-based mindset facilitates moral balancing and a rule-based mindset facilitates moral consistency.moral balancing, moral consistency, ethical mindsets, ethical behavior

“How do you know someone's vegan?” They won't always tell you. An empirical test of the do-gooder's dilemma

A growing number of people (privately) endorse the benefits associated with adopting a meat-free diet. Yet, the societal transition to a more plant-based diet is taking place rather slowly. Why do people's private meat-free preferences fail to materialize in their daily food choices? One potential explanation is that vegetarians and vegans, at this time still a minority group, are worried about eliciting stigma and thus may not feel comfortable expressing their meat-free preferences during social interactions with meat-eaters. Their self-silencing could reinforce the notion that adopting a meat-free diet is nothing more than a niche phenomenon, and in turn discourage others from eliminating meat from their diet as well, thus perpetuating the non-vegetarian norm. Adapting the classic conformity paradigm by Asch, we found that vegetarian and vegan participants were hesitant to express their meat-free preferences. Vegan and vegetarian participants avoided signing a petition that promoted veg*an food options after a majority of confederates had declined to do so. When the experimenter endorsed veg*an food options, however, participants went against the majority, and did sign the petition. Together, these findings point to a pivotal role for exemplars and institutions: by signaling that there are allies who endorse a meat-free diet, they may liberate vegetarians and vegans to publicly express their deviant, meat-free preferences, and thus speed up wider societal change

Can monetary valuation undermine nature conservation? Evidence from a decision experiment

Nature conservation scientists and practitioners have voiced the concern that a conservation discourse based on economic arguments and monetary valuation may undermine conservation efforts by eroding (“crowding out”) the influence of other arguments for nature conservation. This paper presents the results of a decision experiment in which nature conservation is framed using an economic, a non-economic, or a combined discourse before participants take hypothetical decisions on the construction of hydropower dams in the Bolivian Amazon. We find that an economic discourse with monetary valuation framing leads to significantly fewer pro-conservation decisions, that is, decisions against dam construction. This is the case when a cost-benefit analysis inclusive of environmental costs reveals that the dam is economically viable (i.e., there remains a trade-off between economics and conservation), but also when such a costs-benefit analysis indicates that the dam is not viable (i.e., no trade-off). The results suggest that an economic discourse with monetary valuation framing can indeed undermine nature conservation efforts. They also suggest that the effect can be avoided, however, by presenting non-economic arguments side by side with an economic rationale

Communication strategies for moral rebels:How to talk about change in order to inspire self-efficacy in others

Current carbon-intensive lifestyles are unsustainable and drastic social changes are required to combat climate change. To achieve such change, moral rebels (i.e., individuals who deviate from current behavioral norms based on ethical considerations) may be crucial catalyzers. However, the current literature holds that moral rebels may do more harm than good. By deviating from what most people do, based on a moral concern, moral rebels pose a threat to the moral self-view of their observers who share but fail to uphold that concern. Those observers may realize that their behavior does not live up to their moral values, and feel morally inadequate as a result. Work on “do-gooder derogation” demonstrates that rebel-induced threat can elicit defensive reactance among observers, resulting in the rejection of moral rebels and their behavioral choices. Such findings suggest that advocates for social change should avoid triggering moral threat by, for example, presenting nonmoral justifications for their choices. We challenge this view by arguing that moral threat may be a necessary ingredient to achieve social change precisely because it triggers ethical dissonance. Thus, instead of avoiding moral justifications, it may be more effective to harness that threat. Ethical dissonance may offer the fuel needed for observers to engage in self-improvement after being exposed to moral rebels, provided that observers feel capable of changing. Whether or not observers feel capable of changing, however, depends on how rebels communicate their moral choices to others—how they talk about change. This article is categorized under: Perceptions, Behaviour and Communication of Climate Change > Behaviour Change and Responses