Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychology, School of Sociology and Psychology Central University of Finance and Economics China
2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Institute of Developmental Psychology Beijing Normal University Beijing China
Abstract
Economic inequality has been found to reduce individuals' generosity in western contexts. However, whether this effect is cross‐culturally consistent and its internal mechanism remain unclear, as well as how to mitigate this impact. Hence, we explored whether and why economic inequality may erode generosity in a sample of Chinese adults from the social norm perspective and introduced the equal allocation norm to mitigate this effect. Four online studies were conducted: two were correlational (Study 1: n = 300; Study 2: n = 568) and two were experimental (Study 3: n = 289; Study 4: n = 500). Results showed that economic inequality predicted less generosity in the dictator game, and perceived unequal allocation norm accounted for this effect. Moreover, introducing the equal allocation norm could buffer this negative effect. Findings suggest economic inequality impairs generosity, and making the equal allocation norm more salient may guide people to act more generously.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Subject
General Psychology,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous),General Medicine