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Social Discounting in the Elderly: Senior Citizens are Good Samaritans to Strangers

Author

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  • Narun Pornpattananangkul
  • Avijit Chowdhury
  • Lei Feng
  • Rongjun Yu

Abstract

Objectives People tend to become more generous as they grow older, which may reflect an increase in their ego-transcending motives (i.e., concern more for the benefit of recipients than of the benefactors). The current study aimed to examine evidence for an enhanced ego-transcending motive among older adults. Methods We adapted the social-discounting framework to quantify generosity toward people of different social distances, ranging from socially close others (e.g., family and close friends) to socially distant others (e.g., total strangers), in both young and older adults. We hypothesized that the normative decrease in generosity as a function of social distance (e.g., less generous towards strangers compared to close friends) will be mitigated in older adults. Results Our results supported that older adults were more generous toward socially distant others (i.e., less social discounting) compared to younger adults. Discussion Thus, consistent with the idea that the elderly are more oriented to ego-transcending goals, older adults are generous even when their generosity is unlikely to be reciprocated.

Suggested Citation

  • Narun Pornpattananangkul & Avijit Chowdhury & Lei Feng & Rongjun Yu, 2019. "Social Discounting in the Elderly: Senior Citizens are Good Samaritans to Strangers," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 74(1), pages 52-58.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:74:y:2019:i:1:p:52-58.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbx040
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Schwaiger, Rene & Huber, Jürgen & Kirchler, Michael & Kleinlercher, Daniel & Weitzel, Utz, 2022. "Unequal opportunities, social groups, and redistribution: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    2. Gianluigi Guido & Cesare Amatulli & Andrea Sestino, 2020. "Elderly consumers and financial choices: A systematic review," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(3), pages 76-85, December.
    3. 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).
    4. 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.

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