Abstract
Secrecy involves the active concealment of information from others, which can cause undesirable consequences for cognitive, perceptual and health psychology, but empirical research linking secrecy to charitable behaviors remains relatively scarce. This research examined whether secrecy weakens people’s desire to engage in charitable behaviors. Two experiments demonstrated that as a mental burden, secrets decreased people’s donation desire, including their intentions to volunteer and donate, and their tangible charitable behavior. In Experiment 1, recalling a personal secret increased the tendency to donate less money than recalling a neutral experience. Study 2 showed that this weakening effect of secrecy on charitable behaviors is mediated by fatigue (but not negative affect).
Highlights
Charitable behavior, including donations of money or time, is socially and personally desirable (Winterich, Aquino, Mittal, & Swartz, 2013)
The current work adopts a broader view of keeping secrets, as previous research has suggested that secrecy only predicts concealment and negative effects within social interactions
Consistent with the intended manipulation, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant effect of secret condition, Msecret = 4.95, SDsecret = 1.33, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) [4.65, 5.24], on the extent to which participants regarded the recalled experience as a secret, Mcontrol = 2.22, SDcontrol =1.79, 95% CI [1.86, 2.59], t(170) = 11.35, p < .001, Cohen’s d = 1.74, 95% CI [1.39, 2.09]
Summary
Participants read the following: “We ask you to think about a secret that you have, one that you are purposefully keeping secret. Participants read the following: “Bring to mind an ordinary event in your daily life. Without revealing specific details about the ordinary event, we are curious what it pertains to. Please write two words about the ordinary event in the provided box.”. Allegedly as part of an unrelated study, the participants were provided with a one-page description of a nonprofit organization, China Foundation for Disabled Persons. This description explained that the foundation’s mission was to help hearingimpaired children afford cochlear implants.
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