The appeal of the (high) road less travelled : why moral actions become more appealing when no one else does them
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Previous research has documented the power of descriptive norms to increase prosocial behavior, but has largely neglected the possibility of uniqueness as a motivator of prosocial behavior. Although theories of normative influence predict that social information indicating that a behavior is rare will dissuade others from taking action, I predict that low rates of prosocial behavior can be particularly motivating, prompting prosocial action on par with descriptively normative behavior. Study 1 explores the real experiences of unique behavior among entrepreneurial chefs through a series of qualitative interviews. Results from Studies 2 and 3 suggest that counter-normative social information increases individuals' willingness to engage in prosocial behavior relative to a baseline condition. Further, Studies 4 and 5 explored divergent psychological mechanisms responsible for descriptively normative and counter-normative social influence. Results from Study 4 suggest that while individuals spurred to behave prosocially when it is normative to do so experience no positive benefit to their self-worth because that behavior is common, individuals who engage in counter-normative prosocial behavior show increases in the perceived identity centrality of those behaviors because that behavior is distinctive. Consistent with this psychology, results from Study 5 reveal that individuals who have engaged in counter-normative prosocial behavior do so as an identity opportunity rather than from feelings of obligation, and these individuals express more pride than those whose prosocial behavior is more common. Thus, individuals who are motivated to take rare prosocial action, but not those motivated to take common prosocial action, may do so because they foresee the opportunity of a prospective enhancement to their self-worth.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2013 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | O'Connor, Kieran |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Graduate School of Business. |
| Primary advisor | Monin, Benoît, 1972- |
| Primary advisor | Mullen, Elizabeth |
| Thesis advisor | Monin, Benoît, 1972- |
| Thesis advisor | Mullen, Elizabeth |
| Thesis advisor | Flynn, Francis J |
| Thesis advisor | Miller, Dale T |
| Advisor | Flynn, Francis J |
| Advisor | Miller, Dale T |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Kieran O'Connor. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Graduate School of Business. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2013. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2013 by Kieran Sean O'Connor
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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