Titel
The effect of conformity and empathy on prosociality: an experiment with the vote-with-the-wallet game
AutorInnen
Fricke, L., Öztel, A.
Abstract
This study investigated multiple influences on prosociality in form of prosocial behaviour in a public good game. We replicated a study by Pelligra and Vásquez who used the vote-with-the-wallet game. In the vote-with-the-wallet-game, participants must decide between two products that differ in their price as well as the legality of the corresponding companies, with the company of the more expensive product having a higher legality rating. Choosing the expensive prod- uct represents prosocial behaviour. Mainly, we investigated the link between an individual’s empathy level and prosociality. Additionally, we manipulated the conditions of the game: the payoff mechanism; information participants have on the share of cooperators in former sessions and the decision-time of the participants. We aimed to confirm that the rate of contribution to the pub- lic good of participants with high empathy level is higher than of participants with low empathy level under all conditions (H1). A higher rate of contribution was to be expected for the change in payoff mechanism versus the base condi- tion (H2), for shared information about the rate of contribution in former ses- sions (H3) and for limited decision time (H4) as well. Our data allowed us to an- alyse only the role of empathy and the switch of the payoff mechanism on pro- sociality. We found that empathy as well as the switch of the payoff mecha- nism did not have the anticipated significant effect on prosocial behaviour. Our results differ from the original study in that respect. Future research should fur- ther investigate the relationship between empathy and prosociality.
Schlagworte
Public goods game, conformity, empathy, prosociality, social heuristics