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Life is too short to be small: An experiment on mortality salience and prosocial behavior

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  • Bao, Te
  • Li, Xun
  • Xia, Congling

Abstract

We study how mortality salience influences people's time preference and prosocial behavior in a laboratory experiment. We made mortality salient through priming subjects in the treatment group with grid tasks, and studied its impact on altruistic giving in an Andreoni-Miller dictator game. We found that the priming made subjects think bigger, and become more concerned with the overall social welfare, though it did not necessarily make them care more about their opponents' well-being per se. Subjects in the treatment group became more altruistic only when the price of giving is low. We built a two-period model to explain the mechanism of the findings. Our model showed that the priming altered altruistic giving through changing the subjects' time preference and social preference parameters. Finally, we strengthened our findings by showing that the priming didn't change subjects' mood.

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  • Bao, Te & Li, Xun & Xia, Congling, 2024. "Life is too short to be small: An experiment on mortality salience and prosocial behavior," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:86:y:2024:i:c:s1043951x24000804
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2024.102191
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    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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