Survey Response and Observed Behavior: Emancipative and Secular Values Predict Prosocial Behaviors

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Kistler ◽  
Christian Thöni ◽  
Christian Welzel
Keyword(s):  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Behavioral Experiment ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Charitable Organizations ◽  
Empirical Significance ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Important Evidence

Since decades, cross-cultural psychology examines moral values using data from standardized surveys, assuming that values guide human behavior. We add to this literature by studying the link between moral values and various forms of prosocial behavior, using data from respondents of the sixth World Values Survey in Germany who participated in an online behavioral experiment. The experiment consists of a series of incentivized tasks and allows us to elaborate the association between survey-measured values and three facets of observed prosocial behavior. The evidence boils down to three findings. While (a) emancipative values relate to higher common pool contributions and (b) higher donations to charitable organizations, (c) secular values are linked with more productive and less protective investments. As these results conform to key theories and reach empirical significance in a major postindustrial nation, we conclude that we have important evidence at hand highlighting the potential of combined survey-experiment methods to establish value–behavior links that are otherwise inexplorable.

Interculturalism and the Acceptance of Minority Groups

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maykel Verkuyten ◽  
Kumar Yogeeswaran
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Situational Effect

Abstract. Multiculturalism has been criticized and rejected by an increasing number of politicians, and social psychological research has shown that it can lead to outgroup stereotyping, essentialist thinking, and negative attitudes. Interculturalism has been proposed as an alternative diversity ideology, but there is almost no systematic empirical evidence about the impact of interculturalism on the acceptance of migrants and minority groups. Using data from a survey experiment conducted in the Netherlands, we examined the situational effect of promoting interculturalism on acceptance. The results show that for liberals, but not for conservatives, interculturalism leads to more positive attitudes toward immigrant-origin groups and increased willingness to engage in contact, relative to multiculturalism.

Life Cycle, Generational and Period Effects on Protest Potential in Yeltsin's Russia

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olena Nikolayenko
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Communist State ◽  
Period Effects ◽  
The World ◽  
Cycle De Vie ◽  
Europe De L’Est ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Social Turmoil

Abstract. Regime change in Eastern Europe affords an excellent opportunity for investigating linkages between age and politics in times of social turmoil. Using data from three waves of the World Values Survey, this paper explores life cycle, generational and period effects on protest potential in Yeltsin's Russia. The study finds that an individual's position in the life cycle is the strongest predictor of protest potential in the post-communist state. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that citizens socialized during periods of relative socioeconomic stability exhibit the highest protest potential under conditions of uncertainty characteristic of the transition period.Résumé. Les changements de régime en Europe de l'Est permettent d'examiner la relation complexe entre l'âge et la politique pendant les périodes d'instabilité sociale. S'appuyant sur les données de trois vagues du World Values Survey (sondage mondial sur les valeurs), cet article explore l'incidence du cycle de vie, de la génération et de la période sur le potentiel protestataire dans la Russie d'Eltsine. L'étude démontre que la position de l'individu dans le cycle de vie est le plus puissant facteur de prédiction du potentiel protestataire dans la société postcommuniste. En outre, les citoyens socialisés pendant des périodes de relative stabilité socio-économique présentent le potentiel protestataire le plus élevé dans des conditions d'incertitude caractéristiques de la période de transition.

scholarly journals Delayed negative effects of prosocial spending on happiness

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (12) ◽  
pp. 6463-6468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armin Falk ◽  
Thomas Graeber
Keyword(s):  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Behavioral Experiment ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Apparent Absence ◽  
Prosocial Spending ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Random Variation

Does prosocial behavior promote happiness? We test this longstanding hypothesis in a behavioral experiment that extends the scope of previous research. In our Saving a Life paradigm, every participant either saved one human life in expectation by triggering a targeted donation of 350 euros or received an amount of 100 euros. Using a choice paradigm between two binary lotteries with different chances of saving a life, we observed subjects’ intentions at the same time as creating random variation in prosocial outcomes. We repeatedly measured happiness at various delays. Our data weakly replicate the positive effect identified in previous research but only for the very short run. One month later, the sign of the effect reversed, and prosocial behavior led to significantly lower happiness than obtaining the money. Notably, even those subjects who chose prosocially were ultimately happier if they ended up getting the money for themselves. Our findings revealed a more nuanced causal relationship than previously suggested, providing an explanation for the apparent absence of universal prosocial behavior.

scholarly journals Partisan Ambivalence and Electoral Decision Making

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Stephen C. Craig ◽  
Paulina Cossette ◽  
Michael Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Campaign Ads ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Negative Feelings ◽  
Democrats And Republicans ◽  
High Degree

American politics today is driven largely by deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans. That said, there are many people who view the opposition in an overwhelmingly negative light – but who simultaneously possess a mix of positive and negative feelings toward their own party. This paper is a response to prior research (e.g., Lavine, Johnson, and Steenbergen 2012) indicating that such ambivalence increases the probability that voters will engage in "deliberative" (or "effortful") rather than "heuristic" thinking when responding to the choices presented to them in political campaigns. We extend the logic of this argument to a hypothetical race for Congress, using data from a survey experiment to determine whether a high degree of ambivalence toward one's party makes voters more responsive to a negative attack against the candidate of that party. In fact, we find little evidence that partisan ambivalence promotes a deliberative response to negative campaign ads.

Rejecting Ethnic Pandering in Urban Africa: A Survey Experiment on Voter Preferences in Nairobi, Kenya

2021 ◽  
pp. 106591292110405
Author(s):  
Hye-Sung Kim ◽  
Jeremy Horowitz
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Effective Strategy ◽  
Voter Preferences ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
Urban Africa ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Vignette Experiment

Ethnic pandering, in which candidates promise to cater to the interests of coethnic voters, is presumed to be an effective strategy for increasing electoral support in Africa’s emerging multiethnic democracies. However, ethnic political mobilization may be disdained by citizens for its divisive and polarizing effects, particularly in urban areas. As a result, pandering may fall on deaf ears among Africa’s urban voters. This study examines how voters in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, respond to ethnic pandering using data from a vignette experiment conducted in 2015 and a replication study implemented in 2016. Results show that respondents are more supportive of candidates who make ethnically inclusive rather than targeted appeals, regardless of whether the candidate is identified as a coethnic. We propose that the results are driven by a broad distaste among urban voters for parochial politics, rather than by strategic calculations related to candidate viability.

Citizen Approval of Monetary- vs Goods-For-Votes Exchanges

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Mollie J. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Representative Sample ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Need For Care ◽  
Vote Buying ◽  
Question Wording ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Using Data

Abstract Does citizen approval of vote buying depend on the type of benefit being offered? I answer this question using data from a survey experiment conducted on a nationally representative sample of Nicaraguans in 2017. Nicaraguans report significantly lower approval of money-for votes exchanges compared to goods-for-votes exchanges. Furthermore, reported rates of vote buying are lower in the money condition (4.8%) than in the goods-for-votes condition (7.8%), even though the posttreatment question assessing vote buying experience was identical across conditions. This study echoes other work suggesting the need for care in designing questions about vote buying, as slight changes in question wording that prime participants to think about goods versus monetary exchanges can affect both citizen approval of the behavior and the reported prevalence of vote buying.

Institutional anomie and justification of morally dubious behavior and violence cross-nationally: A multilevel examination

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rena C Zito
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
National Level ◽  
Financial Hardship ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Institutional Anomie Theory ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Anomie Theory ◽  
Cultural Systems ◽  
The World ◽  
Using Data

This study draws on insights from institutional anomie theory to examine justification of morally dubious behavior and violence cross-nationally. Further, it builds on a burgeoning body of multilevel institutional anomie theory and research on crime-relevant attitudes by considering whether and how individual financial hardship intersects with anomic structural and cultural systems at the national level, acknowledging that individual responses to anomie may be contingent upon experiences with such hardships. Results from multilevel modeling using data from 74,930 World Values Survey respondents in 52 nations, the World Bank, and other organizations provide partial support for the hypotheses. Specifically, conditions of “want amid plenty,” (Bjerregaard & Cochran, 2008a, p. 183) weakened family and education institutions, and monetary fetishism predict justifications cross-nationally. Moreover, economic inequality and individualism moderate the effect of financial hardship on justifications of morally dubious actions and violence, consistent with expectations.

Economic Influences on Moral Values

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Östling
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Moral Motivation ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Consumer Theory ◽  
Cognitive Dissonance Theory ◽  
The World ◽  
Economic Influences ◽  
Dissonance Theory

Abstract This paper extends standard consumer theory to account for endogenous moral motivation. Building on cognitive dissonance theory, I show how moral values are affected by changes in prices and income. The key insight is that changes in prices and income that lead to higher consumption of an immoral good also affect the moral values held by the consumer so that the good is considered less immoral. A preliminary empirical analysis based on the World Values Survey is consistent with the model's predictions with respect to income.

scholarly journals Children’s trust and the development of prosocial behavior

2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 262-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Malti ◽  
Margit Averdijk ◽  
Antonio Zuffianò ◽  
Denis Ribeaud ◽  
Lucy R. Betts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Latent Growth ◽  
Trust Beliefs ◽  
Curve Modeling ◽  
Teacher Reports ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Over Time

This study examined the role of children’s trust beliefs and trustworthiness in the development of prosocial behavior using data from four waves of a longitudinal study in a large, ethnically-diverse sample of children in Switzerland (mean age = 8.11 years at Time 1, N = 1,028). Prosocial behavior directed towards peers was measured at all assessment points by teacher reports. Children’s trust beliefs and their trustworthiness with peers were assessed and calculated by a social relations analysis at the first assessment point using children’s reports of the extent to which classmates kept promises. In addition, teacher reports of children’s trustworthiness were assessed at all four assessment points. Latent growth curve modeling yielded a decrease in prosocial behavior over time. Peer- and teacher-reported trustworthiness predicted higher initial levels of prosocial behavior, and peer-reported trustworthiness predicted less steep decreases in prosocial behavior over time. Autoregressive cross-lagged analysis also revealed bidirectional longitudinal associations between teacher-reported trustworthiness and prosocial behavior. We discuss the implications of the findings for research on the role of trust in the development of children’s prosocial behavior.

scholarly journals Ethical Distance and Difference in Bilateral Trade

2012 ◽  
pp. 420-441
Author(s):  
Bala Ramasamy ◽  
Matthew C.H. Yeung
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
The World ◽  
Using Data

Cultural, institutional, and psychic distances between countries are critical determinants of bilateral trade. In this paper we examine if ethical distance and difference between an exporting country and an importing country matter in international trade. Using data from 53 countries that participated in the World Values Survey, we show that the closer the ethical distance between countries the greater the trade. We also find that the ethicality of importers matter more than exporters as a determinant of bilateral trade.

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