Decisions about future behaviors are clearly shaped by the content of past experiences, but whether order experiences matters remains controversial. By analyzing largest field experiment prosocial behavior to date, a natural involving 14,383 volunteer crisis counselors over five years, we examine how and causally influence decisions — individuals continue volunteering or quit. Volunteers were repeatedly randomly assigned perform 1,976,649 that either harder (suicide conversations) easier...

In classic judgment and decision-making research, a fundamental distinction was made between riskless choices risky choices. Surprisingly, this has largely been neglected in prosocial which focused on examining (e.g., tipping, dictator game giving) while implicitly assuming findings will generalize to volunteering try help someone, knowing that one’s attempt might fail). We challenge assumption. assert risk transforms decision-making: Specifically, we argue self-image concern influences both...

This symposium, “Behavioral Insights From Causal Field Research,” presents five papers that use causal research designs involving field experiments with rich organizational contexts (e.g., education, medical, crisis counseling). can be viewed as the gold standard of because it combines traditional strength laboratory (i.e., internal validity / inference) and external generalizability). First, Daniels Kang examine how aversive factors, such job difficulty, influence turnover (“quitting”)...

From negotiations to customer interactions, individuals glean critical information from the emotional displays of others. The emotions display offer important insight into how others appraise a situation. As scholars, however, we know surprisingly little about social consequences displays. In this symposium, break new ground by documenting interpersonal effects We explore in different frames same expression influence perceptions, cross-cultural differences, expressions ambivalence, and...

Prosocial motivations and behaviors are often crucial to the success of modern organizations. Normative theories prosocial behavior, widely accepted by social scientists laypeople alike, assert that behavior is motivated concerns for others’ welfare will increase when others face greater harm. This hypothesis, however, has never been tested under conditions severe We report results from a natural experiment combining unique dataset millions time-stamped with exogenous shocks all major...

Prior work has defined emotional deception as the inauthentic display of a felt emotion. We demonstrate that directionality an profoundly influences perceptions deception. Specifically, we introduce term up-display to define exaggerated emotion; and down-display suppressed focus our investigation on misrepresentation in negotiation, because both emotion influence negotiation outcomes. Across five studies, individuals judge up-displays anger, sadness, happiness be significantly less ethical...

Although emotions powerfully shape our interpersonal interactions, a substantial literature has asserted that power, critical feature of is distinct from emotion. This prior work defined power as asymmetric control over resource and presumed individuals are highly motivated to achieve greater power. We challenge this extant in three ways. First, we demonstrate emotion inextricably linked with power; link both state anticipated (guilt-proneness). Second, identify valence, the attractiveness...

Future behaviors are shaped by the content of past experiences, but scholars have assumed that order experiences should not matter at all. Using a large-scale natural field experiment involving 14,383 volunteer crisis counselors, we examine how and causally influence future behavior – namely, whether individuals continue volunteering or quit. Volunteer counselors were repeatedly randomly assigned to perform 1,976,649 time-stamped prosocial either harder (suicide conversations) easier...

The theme of this year’s symposium, Creating a Better World Together, calls for scholars across the field management to aid in our understanding how individuals and organizations can help lead “the world from darkness better days”. In order positively impact world, need understand both (i) sustain individual organizational motivation continuously engage prosocial ventures (ii) ensure that individuals’ organizations’ actually make (continuously) positive impacts on world. present symposium...

People often need to judge others’ motivation (“Are they prosocial, or selfish?”) and ability intelligent, foolish?”) under uncertainty. Current theories across the behavioral sciences suggest that actors who cooperate in one-shot interactions will be viewed as less vice-versa. However, we theoretically show if people think about cooperative using simple mental models – specifically, Prisoner’s Dilemmas played by with prosocial motivations then situation can transform into a Stag Hunt...

Humans routinely incur costs and take risks to help others. Current theories across the behavioral sciences explain prosocial behavior by assuming that people are rational but altruistic. However, extant empirical tests of these have focused on riskless behaviors implicitly assumed their findings will also apply risky behavior. We challenge this assumption. Across seven field laboratory studies, we show risk transforms In a setting, examine millions volunteer crisis counselors who try others...