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Consistent Kindness: Money allocation and kind act decisions are regulated by a ‘welfare trade-off ratio’
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Description: Is kindness regulated by a cost-benefit ratio? Previous research suggests that money allocation decisions are regulated by a psychological variable that represents a ratio of the cost to the actor, and the benefit to the recipient. This ‘welfare trade-off ratio’ (WTR) reflects the weight attached to the actor’s welfare relative to the recipient’s welfare. Here we replicate this research, and extend it by investigating whether decisions about everyday acts of kindness are similarly regulated. To do this we created a new measure – The Kindness Questionnaire – which asks people which of a series of everyday acts, previously rated for cost and benefit, they would be willing to perform for others. In Study 1, a large sample of the US general public (n=6,601) completed money allocation tasks (MA) and Kindness Questionnaires (KQ) for family, friends, colleagues and strangers. MA and KQ decisions were highly consistent with an underlying WTR (~92%); more consistent than would be expected by chance; and generally more consistent than with cost or benefit alone. WTRs were high (~0.81); and, for money allocation, declined with social distance. The Kindness Questionnaires showed good convergent, divergent and incremental validity. In Study 2, a large sample of the US general public (n=8,492) completed a money allocation task, and a Kindness Questionnaire for neighbors. Again, MA and KQ decisions were highly consistent (~89%); more consistent than would be expected by chance; and generally more consistent than with cost or benefit alone. WTRs were high (~0.75). And again, The Kindness Questionnaire showed good convergent, divergent and incremental validity. These studies corroborate ‘welfare tradeoff ratio’ theory, and provide a new way of measuring kindness.