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Is Altruism Sensitive to Scope? The Role of Tangibility

Author

Listed:
  • Alex Imas
  • George Loewenstein

Abstract

Prior work has shown that people appear insensitive to the scope of their altruistic acts and prosocial behavior. While they respond positively when their choices lead to increasing rewards for themselves, people do not change their behavior when the outcomes for others increase. We demonstrate that the scope sensitivity of altruism depends critically on its tangibility, and suggest that this relationship operates through mental accounting. We show that by increasing the level of tangibility, people can become just as sensitive to changes in the size of rewards for others as if they were earning the rewards themselves.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Imas & George Loewenstein, 2018. "Is Altruism Sensitive to Scope? The Role of Tangibility," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 143-147, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:apandp:v:108:y:2018:p:143-47
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20181094
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Gauriot, Romain & Heger, Stephanie A. & Slonim, Robert, 2020. "Altruism or diminishing marginal utility?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 24-48.
    2. Córdova, Angélica & Imas, Alex & Schwartz, Daniel, 2021. "Are non-contingent incentives more effective in motivating new behavior? Evidence from the field," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 602-615.
    3. Sara M. Constantino & Silvia Pianta & Adrian Rinscheid & Renato Frey & Elke U. Weber, 2021. "The source is the message: the impact of institutional signals on climate change–related norm perceptions and behaviors," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 1-20, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers

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