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Social discounting and distance perceptions in costly altruism

Author

Listed:
  • Kruti M. Vekaria

    (Georgetown University)

  • Kristin M. Brethel-Haurwitz

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Elise M. Cardinale

    (Georgetown University)

  • Sarah A. Stoycos

    (University of Southern California)

  • Abigail A. Marsh

    (Georgetown University)

Abstract

Extraordinary acts of altruism towards strangers represent puzzling phenomena not easily explained by dominant biological models of altruism, such as kin selection and reciprocity1–3. These theories stipulate that genetically or socially close others should be the beneficiaries of costly generosity4,5. Extraordinary altruists exhibit increased empathic sensitivity and a fast, intuitive decision-making style6,7, but no clear explanation yet exists for the most perplexing feature of these altruists, which is that they incur significant risks to benefit strangers5. Here, we considered two related proximal mechanisms—social discounting (valuational) and social distancing (perceptual)—that have been proposed to explain why costly help is preferentially given to close others. We hypothesized that variations in one or both mechanisms drive costly altruism towards distant others. We show that extraordinary altruists exhibit reduced social discounting, with altruists discounting the subjective value of outcomes for socially distant others less than controls. Group differences in social discounting were associated with self-reported other-oriented preferences and could not be accounted for by variation in social distancing. These results suggest a psychological mechanism by which costly helping behaviour towards genetically and socially close others might be extended to unrelated others.

Suggested Citation

  • Kruti M. Vekaria & Kristin M. Brethel-Haurwitz & Elise M. Cardinale & Sarah A. Stoycos & Abigail A. Marsh, 2017. "Social discounting and distance perceptions in costly altruism," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 1(5), pages 1-7, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:1:y:2017:i:5:d:10.1038_s41562-017-0100
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-017-0100
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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas, Ranjeeta & Galizzi, Matteo M. & Moorhouse, Louisa & Nyamukapa, Constance & Hallett, Timothy B., 2024. "Do risk, time and prosocial preferences predict risky sexual behaviour of youths in a low-income, high-risk setting?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Lu, Teng & Liang, Dapeng & Hong, Mei, 2024. "Shaping future generosity: The role of injunctive social norms in intertemporal pro-social giving," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    3. Daniel A. Yudkin & Annayah M. B. Prosser & S. Megan Heller & Kateri McRae & Aleksandr Chakroff & M. J. Crockett, 2022. "Prosocial correlates of transformative experiences at secular multi-day mass gatherings," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Falco, Paolo & Zaccagni, Sarah, 2020. "Promoting social distancing in a pandemic: Beyond the good intentions," OSF Preprints a2nys, Center for Open Science.
    5. Shawn A. Rhoads & Kruti M. Vekaria & Katherine O’Connell & Hannah S. Elizabeth & David G. Rand & Megan N. Kozak Williams & Abigail A. Marsh, 2023. "Unselfish traits and social decision-making patterns characterize six populations of real-world extraordinary altruists," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Claudio Singh Solorzano & Maria Serena Panasiti & Alessandra Di Pucchio & Caterina Grano, 2022. "The Impact of Positivity and Parochial Altruism on Protective Behaviours during the First COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-11, August.
    7. Benjamin Volland, 2018. "Après nous le déluge? Perceived distance of climate change impacts and pro-environmental behaviour," IRENE Working Papers 18-05, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.

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