Abstract
An individual’s willingness to share resources declines as the social distance between the decision maker and the recipient increases, which is known as social discounting. This social-distance-dependent prosocial behavior is likely to be influenced by the region in which individuals were raised. Based on previous studies on social discounting, this research focuses on the differing social distance-dependent prosocial behaviors between rural- and urban-reared participants in China. Our data showed that both groups’ behaviors conform to the social discounting function and fit the hyperbolic model, as reported in previous studies about social discounting. Interestingly, individuals who were raised in rural areas yielded a smaller discount rate than those who were raised in urban areas, which indicated that a rural upbringing produced people who were more generous than those with an urban upbringing. Furthermore, this distinct type of generosity occurred notably among individuals with greater social distance, such as strangers or distant acquaintances. The reason may be due to the difference in dominant culture, production mode and lifestyle between rural and urban people.
Highlights
Humans are social beings, especially those who are more likely to display what psychologists call prosocial and altruistic behavior, such as assisting others and demonstrating generosity
The goal of our study is to investigate the influence of region on a specific type of social decision making that depends on social distance
We hypothesized that participants would be less willing to forego money and be less generous to specific people with increasing social distance in both the urban and rural groups, and the hyperbolic model would reflect this
Summary
Especially those who are more likely to display what psychologists call prosocial and altruistic behavior, such as assisting others and demonstrating generosity. People are more generous to those whom they feel closer in their decision making about finances or other resources. This decrease in generosity as a function of social distance is termed social discounting [4,5,6,7,8,9]. This concept of social discounting was first clearly presented by Jones and Rachlin in 2006.
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