What Factors Moderate Self-Other Discrepancies in Decision Making? Results from a Vaccination Scenario

Area of Science:

• Decision Sciences
• Social Psychology
• Health Behavior

Background:

• Individuals often exhibit self-other discrepancies when making risky decisions.
• Social norms regarding risk-taking can influence decisions made for others.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate self-other discrepancies in young adults' decisions regarding vaccine purchase for themselves versus another person.
• To examine the influence of social norms, target preferences, numeracy, empathy, and risk attitudes on these discrepancies.

Main Methods:

• Experimental design involving young adults making decisions about purchasing a vaccine for themselves or a target individual.
• Analysis of how target's preferences (aligned or contrary to social norms) affected surrogate decisions.
• Assessment of individual factors: numeracy, empathy, and personal risk attitudes.

Main Results:

• Surrogates followed social norms when the target's preferences aligned with them, showing significant self-other discrepancies.
• When target preferences contradicted social norms, surrogates still adhered to norms, overriding target preferences.
• Lower numeracy, higher empathy, and personal risk attitudes contrary to norms were associated with decisions more aligned with the target's preferences.

Conclusions:

• Perceived social norms strongly predict self-other discrepancies in risky decisions, even when the target's known preferences conflict with the norm.
• Individual differences in numeracy, empathy, and risk propensity moderate the extent to which decisions for others align with personal decisions.