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Related Experiment Video

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Errors as a Means of Reducing Impulsive Food Choice
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Acute hunger does not always undermine prosociality.

Jan A Häusser1, Christina Stahlecker2, Andreas Mojzisch3

  • 1Department of Psychology, Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10D, 35394, Gießen, Germany. Jan.A.Haeusser@psychol.uni-giessen.de.

Nature Communications
|October 20, 2019
PubMed
Summary

Acute hunger does not significantly impact prosocial behavior, challenging the belief that hunger leads to selfishness. Research indicates minimal effects on sharing resources, even when incentives are involved.

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Area of Science:

  • Social Psychology
  • Behavioral Economics
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Common belief suggests acute hunger promotes self-preservation and reduces prosociality.
  • Previous research has not conclusively determined hunger's impact on sharing behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effect of acute hunger on prosocial behavior across various economic tasks.
  • To examine whether hunger influences decisions involving monetary or food-based incentives.
  • To compare empirical findings with prevalent lay theories on hunger and prosociality.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized experimental, quasi-experimental, and correlational designs with a total of 795 participants.
  • Manipulated subjective hunger and measured blood glucose levels.
  • Assessed prosociality in non-interdependent (e.g., dictator game) and interdependent (e.g., public goods game) tasks.

Main Results:

  • Acute hunger did not significantly affect prosociality in either non-interdependent or interdependent tasks.
  • Meta-analysis revealed a very small, non-significant effect of hunger on prosociality in non-interdependent tasks (d = 0.108).
  • No significant effect of hunger was found in interdependent tasks (d = -0.076).
  • Study five demonstrated a strong lay belief that hunger negatively impacts prosociality, contrasting empirical results.

Conclusions:

  • Acute hunger does not appear to significantly reduce prosocial behavior.
  • Lay beliefs about hunger's detrimental effect on prosociality are not supported by empirical evidence.
  • Future research could explore moderators that might influence the hunger-prosociality relationship.