Self-Control Buffers the Mortality Salience Effect on Fairness-Related Decision-Making

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Fairness decisions balance self-interest and prosociality.
• Terror Management Theory (TMT) suggests mortality salience impacts behavior, but its effect on fairness is unclear.
• Integrating TMT with self-control models is needed to understand fairness.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate mortality salience effects on fairness-related decision-making.
• Examine the moderating role of dispositional self-control.
• Clarify the link between mortality awareness, self-control, and equitable resource allocation.

Main Methods:

• Participants underwent mortality salience or negative affect priming.
• Monetary resource allocation tasks assessed fairness (equal vs. unequal distribution).
• Dispositional self-control levels were measured.

Main Results:

• Mortality salience significantly increased selfish tendencies.
• Participants allocated resources less equitably under mortality salience.
• The effect of mortality salience on inequity was significant only for those with low self-control.

Conclusions:

• Mortality salience promotes selfishness and inequitable decision-making.
• Dispositional self-control moderates the impact of mortality salience on fairness.
• Self-control can mitigate the negative effects of mortality awareness on equitable behavior.