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Non-selfish behaviour: Are social preferences or social norms revealed in distribution decisions?

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  • Heap, Shaun P. Hargreaves
  • Matakos, Konstantinos
  • Weber, Nina Sophie

Abstract

People frequently choose to reduce own payoffs to help others. This non-selfish behavior is typically assumed to arise because people are motivated by social preferences. An alternative explanation is that they follow social norms. We test which of these two accounts can better explain subjects' decisions in a simple distribution game. Unlike previous studies, we elicit preferences and perceived norms directly for each subject. We find that norm-following explains people's distributive choices better than social preferences, and lack of confidence in one's social preference predicts norm-following. Our finding have implications for the strength of the Pareto criterion in welfare evaluations.

Suggested Citation

  • Heap, Shaun P. Hargreaves & Matakos, Konstantinos & Weber, Nina Sophie, 2020. "Non-selfish behaviour: Are social preferences or social norms revealed in distribution decisions?," SocArXiv g4c2m_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:g4c2m_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/g4c2m_v1
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