Department of Economics, University of Bonn, 53113 Bonn, Germany;
Institute on Behavior and Inequality, 53113 Bonn, Germany.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Mar 24;117(12):6463-6468. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1914324117. Epub 2020 Mar 9.
Does prosocial behavior promote happiness? We test this longstanding hypothesis in a behavioral experiment that extends the scope of previous research. In our Saving a Life paradigm, every participant either saved one human life in expectation by triggering a targeted donation of 350 euros or received an amount of 100 euros. Using a choice paradigm between two binary lotteries with different chances of saving a life, we observed subjects' intentions at the same time as creating random variation in prosocial outcomes. We repeatedly measured happiness at various delays. Our data weakly replicate the positive effect identified in previous research but only for the very short run. One month later, the sign of the effect reversed, and prosocial behavior led to significantly lower happiness than obtaining the money. Notably, even those subjects who chose prosocially were ultimately happier if they ended up getting the money for themselves. Our findings revealed a more nuanced causal relationship than previously suggested, providing an explanation for the apparent absence of universal prosocial behavior.
亲社会行为会带来幸福感吗？我们在一项行为实验中检验了这一长期存在的假设，该实验扩展了先前研究的范围。在我们的拯救生命范式中，每位参与者要么通过触发目标捐赠 350 欧元来预期拯救一个人的生命，要么获得 100 欧元。我们使用两个具有不同拯救生命机会的二进制彩票之间的选择范式，同时观察了参与者的意图，同时在亲社会结果中创造了随机变化。我们在不同的延迟时间内反复测量幸福感。我们的数据微弱地复制了先前研究中确定的积极影响，但仅在非常短的时间内有效。一个月后，这种影响的迹象发生了逆转，亲社会行为导致的幸福感明显低于获得这笔钱。值得注意的是，即使是那些选择亲社会行为的人，如果最终自己得到了钱，他们最终也会更快乐。我们的发现揭示了比以前更细微的因果关系，为普遍亲社会行为的明显缺失提供了一种解释。
