When Does Altruism Trump Self-Interest? The Moderating Role of Affect in Extrinsic Incentives

Extensive use of incentives in practice suggests that they play a key role in motivating behavior. However, conflicting findings have emerged about the effectiveness of various types of incentives (e.g., a cash incentive vs. a donation to charity). We propose a theoretical framework to explain when and why different types of incentives may be more effective. We posit that motivational efficacy of an incentive is jointly determined by its cognitive and affective value. Thus, an incentive offering a donation to charity can be more motivating than an equivalent cash incentive for the self when the incentive amount is low because, although both lack a motivating cognitive valuation, superior affective valuation of the prosocial incentive can increase its relative effectiveness. Consistent with this account, we demonstrate that low-amount self-benefiting incentives become more motivating when their affective value is enhanced, and low-amount prosocial incentives become less motivating as their affective value is attenuated.