Uncertainty about the impact of social decisions increases prosocial behaviour

• DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0372-x
• Publication Date: 2018-07-05T15:58:46Z
• Authors: Andreas Kappes; Anne-Marie Nussbe...; Nadira S. Faber; Guy Kahane; Julian Savulescu; Molly J. Crockett
• Keywords: PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Intragroup Processes; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Social Cognition; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Politics; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Personality and Creativity; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Individual Differences; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Nonverbal Behavior; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Theories of Personality; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Interventions; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Narrative Research; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Diversity; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Genetic factors; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Moral Behavior; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Interpersonal Relationships; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Personality and Situations; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Personality Processes; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Impression Formation; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Testing and Assessment; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Violence and Aggression; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Disability; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Self-regulation; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Achievement and Status; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Motivational Behavior; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Prejudice and Discrimination; bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Psychology; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Prosocial Behavior; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Well-being; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Social Influence; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Affect and Emotion Regulation; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Self-esteem; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Social Well-being; 3. Good health; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Intergroup Processes; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Sexuality; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Cultural Differences; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Psychology, other; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Trait Theory; bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences; bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Psychology|Social Psychology; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Self and Social Identity; bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Psychology|Personality and Social Contexts; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Religion and Spirituality; PsyArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Social and Personality Psychology|Attitudes and Persuasion

Uncertainty about how our choices will affect others infuses social life. Past research suggests uncertainty has a negative effect on prosocial behavior by enabling people to adopt self-serving narratives about their actions. We show that uncertainty does not always promote selfishness. We introduce a distinction between two types of uncertainty that have opposite effects on prosocial behavior. Previous work focused on outcome uncertainty: uncertainty about whether or not a decision will lead to a particular outcome. But as soon as people’s decisions might have negative consequences for others, there is also impact uncertainty: uncertainty about how badly others’ well-being will be impacted by the negative outcome. Consistent with past research, we found decreased prosocial behavior under outcome uncertainty. In contrast, prosocial behavior was increased under impact uncertainty in incentivized economic decisions and hypothetical decisions about infectious disease threats. Perceptions of social norms paralleled the behavioral effects. The effect of impact uncertainty on prosocial behavior did not depend on the individuation of others or the mere mention of harm, and was stronger when impact uncertainty was made more salient. Our findings offer insights into communicating uncertainty, especially in contexts where prosocial behavior is paramount, such as responding to infectious disease threats.