Abstract
It has been argued that, when they are acutely hungry, people act in self-protective ways by keeping resources to themselves rather than sharing them. In four studies, using experimental, quasi-experimental, and correlational designs (total N = 795), we examine the effects of acute hunger on prosociality in a wide variety of non-interdependent tasks (e.g. dictator game) and interdependent tasks (e.g. public goods games). While our procedures successfully increase subjective hunger and decrease blood glucose, we do not find significant effects of hunger on prosociality. This is true for both decisions incentivized with money and with food. Meta-analysis across all tasks reveals a very small effect of hunger on prosociality in non-interdependent tasks (d = 0.108), and a non-significant effect in interdependent tasks (d = −0.076). In study five (N = 197), we show that, in stark contrast to our empirical findings, people hold strong lay theories that hunger undermines prosociality.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 4733 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-10 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Nature Communications |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 18 Oct 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2019 |
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Acute hunger does not always undermine prosociality. / Häusser, Jan A.; Stahlecker, Christina; Mojzisch, Andreas; Leder, Johannes; Van Lange, Paul A.M.; Faber, Nadira S.
In: Nature Communications, Vol. 10, No. 1, 4733, 01.12.2019, p. 1-10.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Acute hunger does not always undermine prosociality
AU - Häusser, Jan A.
AU - Stahlecker, Christina
AU - Mojzisch, Andreas
AU - Leder, Johannes
AU - Van Lange, Paul A.M.
AU - Faber, Nadira S.
PY - 2019/12/1
Y1 - 2019/12/1
N2 - It has been argued that, when they are acutely hungry, people act in self-protective ways by keeping resources to themselves rather than sharing them. In four studies, using experimental, quasi-experimental, and correlational designs (total N = 795), we examine the effects of acute hunger on prosociality in a wide variety of non-interdependent tasks (e.g. dictator game) and interdependent tasks (e.g. public goods games). While our procedures successfully increase subjective hunger and decrease blood glucose, we do not find significant effects of hunger on prosociality. This is true for both decisions incentivized with money and with food. Meta-analysis across all tasks reveals a very small effect of hunger on prosociality in non-interdependent tasks (d = 0.108), and a non-significant effect in interdependent tasks (d = −0.076). In study five (N = 197), we show that, in stark contrast to our empirical findings, people hold strong lay theories that hunger undermines prosociality.
AB - It has been argued that, when they are acutely hungry, people act in self-protective ways by keeping resources to themselves rather than sharing them. In four studies, using experimental, quasi-experimental, and correlational designs (total N = 795), we examine the effects of acute hunger on prosociality in a wide variety of non-interdependent tasks (e.g. dictator game) and interdependent tasks (e.g. public goods games). While our procedures successfully increase subjective hunger and decrease blood glucose, we do not find significant effects of hunger on prosociality. This is true for both decisions incentivized with money and with food. Meta-analysis across all tasks reveals a very small effect of hunger on prosociality in non-interdependent tasks (d = 0.108), and a non-significant effect in interdependent tasks (d = −0.076). In study five (N = 197), we show that, in stark contrast to our empirical findings, people hold strong lay theories that hunger undermines prosociality.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85073532955&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-019-12579-7
DO - 10.1038/s41467-019-12579-7
M3 - Article
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
IS - 1
M1 - 4733
ER -