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Altruism versus Egoism in Human Behavior of Mixed Motives

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  • Yung‐An Hu
  • Day‐Yang Liu

Abstract

ABSTRACT. This article begins with the observation that people often cooperate in social dilemmas. Specifically, they may do so either for altruistic reasons or for reasons indirectly linked to self‐interest. Because these competing motivations exist in different contexts, we explore the consequences of the incorporation of altruism in the economic framework in the context of a series of prisoner's dilemma experiments. Our experiments involve student subjects in groups of three. Each student plays two rounds of a monetary prisoner's dilemma game with the other two subjects in that group. We find evidence for recognizably different levels of the altruistic behavior of cooperation due to personal attributes and specific experimental conditions. Cooperation rates are higher for female students and more senior students. Of more interest is the evidence that economics majors tend to behave more cooperatively than noneconomics majors.

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  • Yung‐An Hu & Day‐Yang Liu, 2003. "Altruism versus Egoism in Human Behavior of Mixed Motives," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 677-705, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:62:y:2003:i:4:p:677-705
    DOI: 10.1111/1536-7150.00240
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    Cited by:

    1. Muñoz-Izquierdo, Nora & Gil-Gómez de Liaño, Beatriz & Rin-Sánchez, Francisco Daniel & Pascual-Ezama, David, 2014. "Economists: cheaters with altruistic instincts," MPRA Paper 60678, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. İbrahim Erdem SEÇİLMİŞ, 2014. "Seniority: A Blessing or A Curse? The Effect of Economics Training on the Perception of Distributive Justice," Sosyoekonomi Journal, Sosyoekonomi Society, issue 22(22).
    3. Faravelli, Marco, 2007. "How context matters: A survey based experiment on distributive justice," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(7-8), pages 1399-1422, August.
    4. Dorothea Wahyu Ariani, 2017. "Good Soldiers and Good Actors: Is there Any Differences?," International Journal of Asian Social Science, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 7(1), pages 31-44, January.
    5. Marco Faravelli, 2005. "Looking for Agreement: an Experiment on Distributive Justice," Working Papers 92, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Oct 2005.
    6. Eric W. K. Tsang, 2009. "—Assumptions, Explanation, and Prediction in Marketing Science: “It's the Findings, Stupid, Not the Assumptions”," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 986-990, 09-10.
    7. Joanna Dzionek-Kozłowska & Sharaf N. Rehman, 2017. "Indoctrination, Preselection or Culture? Economic Education and Attitudes towards Cooperation," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 6, pages 57-77.
    8. Espín, Antonio M. & Correa, Manuel & Ruiz-Villaverde, Alberto, 2022. "Economics students: Self-selected in preferences and indoctrinated in beliefs," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    9. Mario A. Maggioni & Domenico Rossignoli, 2021. "If it Looks like a Human and Speaks like a Human..," DISEIS - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo dis2101, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo (DISEIS).
    10. Mario A. Maggioni & Domenico Rossignoli, 2021. "If it Looks like a Human and Speaks like a Human ... Dialogue and cooperation in human-robot interactions," Papers 2104.11652, arXiv.org, revised May 2021.
    11. Miragaya-Casillas, Cristina & Aguayo-Estremera, Raimundo & Ruiz-Villaverde, Alberto, 2023. "University students, economics education, and self-interest. A systematic literature review," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    12. Seale, Darryl A. & Arend, Richard J. & Phelan, Steven, 2006. "Modeling alliance activity: Opportunity cost effects and manipulations in an iterated prisoner's dilemma with exit option," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 60-75, May.
    13. Donna Rowen & Michael Dietrich, 2007. "Are people ethical? An experimental approach," Working Papers 2007014, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised Oct 2007.
    14. Jayasankar Ramanathan & Biswanath Swain, 2019. "Are Marketers Egoists? A Typological Explication," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 611-621, March.
    15. Simon Niklas Hellmich, 2019. "Are People Trained in Economics “Different,†and if so, Why? A Literature Review," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 64(2), pages 246-268, October.
    16. AMENDOLA, Francesca, 2019. "Public Service Motivation Antecedents: Testing the European Countries," CELPE Discussion Papers 160, CELPE - CEnter for Labor and Political Economics, University of Salerno, Italy.

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