Delaying rewards has greater effect on altruism when the beneficiary is socially distant

Jerzy Osiński and Adam Karbowski

EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, 2017, vol. 12, issue 2, e0170387

Abstract: Based on the assumption that social distance and time are dimensions of psychological distance important for altruistic choices it was predicted that enhancement of altruism due to delaying rewards when choosing between a reward for oneself and for another person would be more pronounced the greater the social distance between the subject and another person. In order to test this hypothesis, social discounting using hypothetical monetary rewards and manipulation of social distance and reward delay was measured in a group of 161 college students. The results indicate that delaying rewards increasingly enhances preference for altruistic choices as the social distance between subject and beneficiary grows.

Keywords: altruism; discounting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D03 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Journal Article: Delaying rewards has greater effect on altruism when the beneficiary is socially distant (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:espost:157216

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170387

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