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A Test of Dual-Process Reasoning in Charitable Giving

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  • Grossman, Zachary
  • van der Weele, Joël
  • Andrijevik, Ana

Abstract

Previous economic experiments on dual-process reasoning in altruistic decisions have yielded inconclusive results. However, these studies do not create a conflict between affective and cognitive motives, resulting in imperfect identification. We interact standard cognitive and affective manipulations in a giving task, and hypothesize that the affective manipulation has stronger effects when we simultaneously put the cognitive system under load. In line with earlier results, we find little evidence for dual-process reasoning in giving. Our independent treatment checks cast doubt on the effectiveness of standard treatment manipulations and show that both cognitive and affective manipulations consistently have opposite effects on the two sexes. We discuss the implications of our findings for economic experiments in this nascent research field.

Suggested Citation

  • Grossman, Zachary & van der Weele, Joël & Andrijevik, Ana, 2014. "A Test of Dual-Process Reasoning in Charitable Giving," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series qt4tm617f7, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:ucsbec:qt4tm617f7
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    2. Jesús F. Salgado & Inmaculada Otero & Silvia Moscoso, 2019. "Cognitive Reflection and General Mental Ability as Predictors of Job Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-16, November.
    3. Goeschl, Timo & Lohse, Johannes, 2018. "Cooperation in public good games. Calculated or confused?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 185-203.
    4. Jarke, Johannes & Lohse, Johannes, 2016. "I'm in a hurry, I don't want to know! The effects of time pressure and transparency on self-serving behavior," WiSo-HH Working Paper Series 32, University of Hamburg, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, WISO Research Laboratory.

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    Keywords

    Social and Behavioral Sciences; dual-process reasoning; charitable giving; dictator games; experimental economics;
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