Does stress influence pro-environmental donation behavior?

Abstract

Background: Stress has been found to have both positive and negative effects on prosocial behavior, suggesting the involvement of moderating factors such as context and underlying motives. In the present study,we investigated the conditions under which acute stress leads to an increase versus decrease in proenvironmental donation behavior as an indicator of altruism. Methods: Male participants with either high (N=40) or low (N=39) pro-environmental orientation were randomly assigned to a social stress test or control condition. Salivary cortisol was assessed repeatedly before and after stress induction. At the end of the experiment, all subjects were presented with an opportunity to donate a portion of their monetary compensation to a climate protection foundation. Results: Stress significantly increased donation frequency, but only in subjects with low pro-environmental orientation. Congruously, their decision to donate was positively associated with cortisol response to the stress test and the emotion regulation strategy “mood repair”. In contrast, among the participants who decided to donate, stress significantly reduced the donated amount of money, regardless of the subjects’ pro-environmental orientation. Conclusions: The effects of stress on altruism depended on participants’ preexisting orientation towards the donation objective as well as on how donating behavior was measured. Only subjects with weaker pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors donated more frequently under stress, possibly in an attempt to improve their mood. However, the donated amount of money and thus the actual extent or cost of prosocial behavior decreasedunder stress in bothgroupsof participants, indicating an increase in self-interested motivation.