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What's Behind Image? Toward a Better Understanding of Image-Driven Behavior
1Department of Economics, University of Jena, Jena, Germany.
Frontiers in Psychology
|June 28, 2021
Summary
Moral emotions like guilt and shame significantly drive pro-social behavior in economic games. Guilt influences giving when choices are private, while shame impacts giving when decisions are public.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Social Psychology
- Experimental Economics
Background:
- Understanding the psychological drivers of altruism is crucial in behavioral economics.
- Image concerns, encompassing self-image and social-image, are hypothesized to influence decision-making in social interactions.
- Previous research often struggles to disentangle the specific roles of guilt and shame in motivating pro-social behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To experimentally investigate the distinct roles of self-image and social-image concerns in pro-social behavior.
- To identify the specific moral emotions (guilt and shame) that underpin giving in economic games.
- To analyze how situational factors, such as excuses and public visibility, moderate the influence of these emotions.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing a dictator/trust game framework with systematically varied image concerns.
- Implementing conditions to decrease self-image concerns (excuses) and increase social-image concerns (publicity).
- Controlling for distributional preferences and expectations to isolate the impact of moral emotions.
Main Results:
- Guilt disposition significantly predicts giving in the baseline (private) condition.
- The effect of guilt on giving diminishes when an excuse for selfish behavior is provided.
- Shame disposition is positively correlated with giving when the choice is public and identifiable.
Conclusions:
- Moral emotions, specifically guilt and shame, are significant determinants of pro-social behavior.
- Guilt is primarily associated with private decision-making, whereas shame is linked to public accountability.
- Experimental manipulation of image concerns effectively isolates the influence of distinct moral emotions on economic behavior.
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