Pronoun drop and prosocial behavior: experimental evidence from Japan

Tai-Sen He (), Yohanes Riyanto, Saori C. Tanaka () and Katsunori Yamada ()
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Tai-Sen He: Nanyang Technological University
Saori C. Tanaka: Advanced Telecommunication Research Institute International
Katsunori Yamada: Kindai University

Journal of the Economic Science Association, 2020, vol. 6, issue 1, No 2, 13-25

Abstract: Abstract We join a growing body of literature suggesting that the languages people speak influence their decision-making. We tested whether dropping the first-person pronoun “I” affects pro-social behavior in a dictator game-like setting. To this end, we conducted an online randomized, incentivized experiment with a socially representative sample of 2000 Japanese respondents. We provide compelling causal evidence that pronoun dropping reduces pro-sociality. Given that our results provide little empirical support for previous research findings linking first-person pronoun use and lower pro-sociality, we prescribe caution in using languages as a proxy for culture in several cross-country empirical studies in economics.

Keywords: Pronoun drop language; Pro-social behavior; Social-value orientation; Incentivized online experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C92 D64 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s40881-020-00083-4

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