Doctoral Dissertation Research: Generosity Contagion versus Value Sharing as Determinants of Prosocial Decision-Making

Georgetown University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Understanding why people make selfish or generous decisions remains a fundamental puzzle for judgment and decision-making researchers. Previous research indicates that extraordinarily generous people, such as people who give kidneys to strangers, tend to be socially close to people who also are unusually generous. However, it is unclear whether this relationship arises due to social selection (generous people selecting close relationships with similarly generous others), prosocial contagion (the generosity of one person influencing close others to develop more selfless tendencies themselves), or a combination of both processes. This project seeks to examine the influence of social relationships on generosity, and conversely, the influence of generosity on social relationships. To address these questions, this dissertation project collects data from first-year college roommates, as first-year college roommates represent a sample of randomized pairs of people who, over the course of the academic year, will go from being strangers or near-strangers to having a social relationship (which may or may not be a close relationship). Using a quasi-experimental approach, survey data is collected from these roommates at the beginning, middle, and end of the academic year. It also investigates whether roommate pairs with similar levels of generosity are more likely to become close friends. All personality and social decision-making data is used to test the veracity of three hypotheses: (1) Less generous roommates living with more generous roommates will increase in generosity over time if they report increasing social closeness and interaction frequency, (2) roommates with limited interaction with their generous roommates are not expected to exhibit changes in their generosity levels, and (3) roommate pairs with more similar levels of generosity at the start of the year will report higher levels of closeness and relationship satisfaction as the year progresses. This research contributes to understanding the interplay between generosity and the formation of social relationships, addressing critical questions regarding whether and why generous decision-making spreads and how generous people find generous others to form relationships with. Such findings contribute to efforts to promote generosity and increased societal welfare. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.