Massive Field Quasi-Experiments Reveal Inverted-U Causal Links Between Mood and Prosocial Decisions

Authors:

Abstract: Prosocial behaviors are important for resolving conflicts in groups and societies. A key question in conflict management is how mood influences prosocial behavior. For 50 years, there has been a controversy: some scholars believe positive moods boost prosocial behavior; other scholars believe positive moods reduce prosocial behavior. We resolve this controversy by using massive field quasi-experiments with plausibly exogenous continuous treatment variables, which can reveal the full continuous causal relationship between a treatment variable and an outcome variable without assuming anything about the shape of this relationship. Three quasi-experiments reveal inverted-U causal relationships between mood and prosocial behavior: more positive mood triggers (i.e., more sunlight, more positive news, more positive stock-market returns) first boost, then reduce, prosocial behavior. Our findings provide insights for leaders seeking to ameliorate conflicts by promoting prosocial behavior: their optimal strategy will depend on whether the current mood of their targets is relatively positive (vs. negative).

Track: DEC

Keywords: field experiment, quasi-experiment, decision making, prosocial behavior, non-profit organization