Values, self and other-regarding behavior in the dictator game

Abstract

Do values influence behavior? This study investigates whether individuals’ value beliefs, measured by the Schwartz Portrait Value Questionnaire, causally influence their other-regarding behavior in the dictator game. We find that four out of the five values we examine correlate significantly with individuals’ game behavior. Furthermore, for the purpose of establishing causality, we conduct two experimental manipulations to test if cognitively “activating” the values increases value-congruent behavior. The first manipulation primes the value beliefs to make them cognitively salient. The second, which draws on the notion that values are internalized into one’s self-system, primes and makes salient the self. Both manipulations—priming the values and priming the self—are found to generally increase the impacts of values on action, which provides evidence that values do causally influence behavior. Unexpected findings regarding the universalism value and the hedonism value are also discussed.