Moral Mind: global experiments on moral evaluations

We had four different survey experiments: (1) perceptions of moral acceptability, (2) responsibility attributed to children of different ages for their productivity, (3) attitudes toward males and females falling behind in education and the labor market, and (4) cross-country heterogeneity in preferences for competition.

In the first experiment the task is to evaluate the the moral acceptability of a dictator decision in a real effort experiment. The random assignment is to one of two different dictator decisions to evaluate (high or low inequality). These were decisions made by others in a previous experiment.

In the second experiment, the task is to propose a division of earnings between two children that have done a small task. The random assignment is 2x2: The age of the children (both of the children are 7, or both of the children are 15 year old) and the source of initial inequality (pure luck, or performance in the task).

In the third experiment, the task is to express support for a group that has fallen behind in education / the labor market, and also belief about exerted effort of this group. The random assignment is 2x2: Whether the group to consider is male or female, and whether the belief about exerted effort is stated as a plain factual statement or as a causal statement for why this group has fallen behind.

In the fourth experiment, the task is to express agreement/disagreement with a statement about the importance of group being willing to compete against others. The random assignment is to whether this group is "girls" or "boys."

Random assignment is independent across experiments, and all random assignments are with equal probabilities.

Details of the interventions are provided in the relevant analysis plans, and also in the enclosed instrument.

2022-06-01

2023-12-31

Evaluation of moral acceptability, spectator decision on monetary allocation, belief about why genders fall behind in education and the labor market, support for genders that fall behind in education and the labor market, willingness to compete, the importance of people's willingness to compete

More details are provided in the analysis plans.

We target 62,000 participants across 60 countries, recruited by Gallup as part of the 2022 Gallup World Poll. Our questions form a subset of the poll. The survey is administered in two modes: Face-to-face interviews in countries without sufficient internet coverage; web surveys in countries with adequate internet coverage. Randomization at the individual level. Independent assignment to treatment for each of the four modules.

The survey (but not the intervention) was clustered in the face-to-face countries.

Computer

Individual

Yes

30000 individuals and 2000 clusters of 16 individuals.

62000

Equally sized treatments arms within each module.

Analysis Plan: Competitiveness Module

Analysis Plan: Genders Falling Behind Module