Pronoun drop and prosocial behavior : experimental evidence from Japan
We join a growing body of literature suggesting that the languages people speak influence their decision-making. We tested whether dropping the first-person pronoun “I” affects prosocial behavior in a dictator game-like setting. To this end, we conducted an online randomized, incentivized experiment...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/144470 |
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| Institution: | Nanyang Technological University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | We join a growing body of literature suggesting that the languages people speak influence their decision-making. We tested whether dropping the first-person pronoun “I” affects prosocial behavior in a dictator game-like setting. To this end, we conducted an online randomized, incentivized experiment with a socially representative sample of 2,000 Japanese respondents. We provide compelling causal evidence that pronoun-dropping reduces pro-sociality. Given that our results provide little empirical support for previous research findings linking first-person pronoun use and lower pro-sociality, we prescribe caution in using languages as a proxy for culture in several cross-country empirical studies in economics. |
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