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Moral signaling through donations of money and time
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Johnson, Samuel G. B. and Park, Seo Young (2021) Moral signaling through donations of money and time. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 165 . pp. 183-196. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2021.05.004
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2021.05.004
Abstract
Prosocial acts typically take the form of time- or money-donations. Do third-parties differ in how they evaluate these different kinds of donations? Here, we show that people view time-donations as more morally praiseworthy and more diagnostic of moral character than money-donations, even when the resource investment is comparable. This moral preference occurs because people perceive time-donations as signaling greater emotional investment in the cause and therefore better moral character; this occurs despite the (correct) belief that time-donations are typically less effective than money-donations (Study 1). This effect in turn is explained by two mechanisms: People believe that time-donations are costlier even when their objective costs are equated, which happens because people rely on a lay theory associating time with the self (Study 2). The more signaling power of time-donations has downstream implications for interpersonal attractiveness in a dating context (Study 3A), employment decisions (Study 3B), and donor decision-making (Study 3). Moreover, donors who are prompted with an affiliation rather (versus dominance) goal are likelier to favor time-donations (Study 4). However, reframing money-donations in terms of time (e.g., donating a week’s salary) reduced and even reversed these effects (Study 5). These results support theories of prosociality that place reputation-signaling as a key motivator of moral behavior. We discuss implications for the charity market and for social movements, such as effective altruism, that seek to maximize the social benefit of altruistic acts.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Science > Psychology | ||||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Helping behavior , Social psychology, Altruism , Psychology -- Moral and ethical aspects | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Academic Press | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 0749-5978 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | July 2021 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 165 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 183-196 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.obhdp.2021.05.004 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
| RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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