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Measuring the distribution of spitefulness.
Erik O Kimbrough1, J Philipp Reiss
1Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. ekimbrou@sfu.ca
Plos One
|August 21, 2012
Summary
Most people are consistently spiteful or not when given repeated chances to harm others at no cost. Individuals either avoid spite entirely or inflict maximum harm, showing a bipolar distribution of spiteful behavior.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
- Moral Psychology
Background:
- Antisocial and spiteful behaviors can erode societal trust and order.
- Existing research shows people harm others, but the extent and consistency of spitefulness remain unclear, especially when there are no personal costs or observability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the extent and consistency of spiteful behavior in individuals.
- To examine how people behave when given repeated, cost-free, and unobserved opportunities to harm anonymous others.
Main Methods:
- An experiment was designed to provide participants with repeated opportunities for spiteful actions.
- The experimental setup ensured that spiteful decisions incurred zero cost to the decision-maker and were unobservable to the victim.
Main Results:
- The majority of individuals demonstrated consistent levels of spitefulness across repeated trials.
- Spitefulness distribution was bipolar: participants either completely refrained from spiteful actions or chose to inflict the maximum possible harm.
Conclusions:
- Individuals exhibit predictable patterns in their spiteful behavior when given anonymous, cost-free opportunities.
- The findings suggest a strong tendency towards either complete avoidance or extreme infliction of harm in such scenarios.
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