Shocks and Social Preferences
Abstract
Similar to personality differences in psychology, people systematically vary in their prosocial tendencies for altruism, fairness, and trust. Over the last two decades, social scientists have recognized the powerful influence of these fundamental social preferences . Social preferences embody the idea that people care not only about their own well-being, but also that of others. Social preferences impact individual behavior and attitudes, cooperation and conflict in society. Research finds that preferences are usually stable over time. However, preferences can change in response to negative collective shocksÐmajor unexpected changes in the environment that threaten physical survival, livelihood, and social networks. Examples include war, natural disasters, epidemics, and economic disruptions. These shocks alter preferences and thus reshape individual choices, investments, and cooperation. We lack a comprehensive understanding of how shocks influence preferences. This has resulted in conflicting findings that do not cumulate. Some well-designed studies of war and disasters find these shocks produce more ÒprosocialÓ preferences, but others conclude they undermine cooperation. The key reason is that most studies involve small samples or single countries or sub-national regions, limiting external validity. As a result, we still know little about the degree to which shocks have heterogeneous effects on preferences and the reasons for those differences. The long-term goal of this project is to understand how shocks influence preferences at the subnational level across many countries. The objective is to relate a wide range of shocks to multiple preferences to establish if and why heterogeneous effects exist. Our central hypothesis is that shocks reduce prosociality, but that this relationship is moderated by state capacity, which varies substantially within and between countries. Locations of high state capacity have a variety of material and social support systems that mitigate the negative effect of shocks on preferences. This will contribute to basic social science research by establishing possible effect sizes of various shocks at the global level and explain heterogeneity in the effects of shocks on preferences at the subnational level. We are well-positioned to carry out this research because of our experience integrating diverse subnational datasets, as well as our previous work on state capacity and the effects of wartime and economic shocks on preference change. The project is innovative because of its focus on subnational comparisons within and across countries and the development of a new theory relating state capacity to the effects of shocks on preferences. The expected outcomes are manuscripts suitable for publication in top peer-reviewed journals across disciplines, new data, and the cross-training of graduate students in data science and social science. The project has the potential to generalize our understanding of preference change, which has important implications for a broad range of decisions (e.g., in education and new technology) and cooperation within and across social groups and societies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 28, 2023
- Source ID
- W911NF2310194
Entities
People
- James Walsh
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill