Groups, social context and prosocial behavior

Last registered on July 06, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Groups, social context and prosocial behavior
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010179
Initial registration date
October 14, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
October 17, 2022, 5:33 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
July 06, 2023, 7:27 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Aalto University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-10-14
End date
2022-11-04
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
In this project, we study how changes in a social context, defined as the group composition of a society, affect prosocial behavior among members of that society. The project conducts an experiment that examines how making society more or less familiar to an individual, changes her redistributive allocations towards others. Moreover, we provide evidence of perceived closeness between individuals as the mechanism through which social context affects decisions.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Carvajal, Daniel. 2023. "Groups, social context and prosocial behavior." AEA RCT Registry. July 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10179-2.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2022-10-14
Intervention End Date
2022-11-04

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Allocation decision (Dictator game)
Closeness measure (IOS Scale)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
• Closeness measure: using the IOS Scale the respondent indicates from 1 to 7, how close do they feel towards the selected participant.
• Allocation decision: the respondent must indicate how much of their initial allocation of $40 would they give to the selected participant.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Background sociodemographic characteristics, policy views elicitation as a proxy for moral universalism, altruism measure.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A respondent from the USA is matched with two other participants of the study (from USA, China or Canada), where all three participate in a lottery to win a total of $50. This amount is initially distributed as follows: $40 for the respondent, and $5 for each of the matched participants. Then, the respondent is told that one of the two participants will be randomly selected. Subsequently, they must indicate how much of their initial allocation of $40 would they give to the selected participant.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No clustering
Sample size: planned number of observations
2800, 400 participants per treatment arm.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
There is a total of seven treatment arms. In the following it is indicated on the left, which participants are matched to the decision maker (from USA), and to the right which of these two participants was selected for the allocation decision:
T1. Participant A: USA and Participant B: USA. USA is selected.
T2. Participant A: USA and Participant B: CHN. USA is selected.
T3. Participant A: USA and Participant B: CHN. CHN is selected.
T4. Participant A: CHN and Participant B: CHN. CHN is selected.
T5. Participant A: USA and Participant B: CAN. USA is selected.
T6. Participant A: USA and Participant B: CAN. CAN is selected.
T7. Participant A: CAN and Participant B: CAN. CAN is selected.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
NHH IRB
IRB Approval Date
2022-09-22
IRB Approval Number
NHH-IRB 44/22
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials