A mirror has no effect on giving in the dictator game

Abstract

Evolutionary studies on human altruism toward strangers have proposed two motivations as proximate mechanisms for this behavior. The first involves the positive motivations inherent in expecting that actors will benefit in the long term by building a good reputation even if they accrue immediate costs for their altruistic behavior. The second involves the negative motivations inherent in avoiding identification as a norm violator. The presence of a mirror has been reported to enhance self-consciousness and evoke negative affect in response to an observer’s eyes. We conducted the dictator game with and without a mirror. Participants were asked to complete a post-experiment questionnaire designed to investigate what they were thinking when they decided the amount of money to offer the recipient and to explore their perceptions of the experimental situation. Although the negative affect elicited by an observer’s eyes was stronger under the mirror condition, the presence of the mirror did not increase the amount of money offered in the game.

Thinking of me: Self-focus reduces sharing and helping in seven- to eight-year-olds

“…Yet one context produces more selfless behaviour, whereas the other produces more selfish behaviour. We believe that reflections by mirrors can increase both private and public self-awareness and cause individuals to become highly self-conscious [ 69 ], [ 70 ], [ 71 ], [ 72 ]. This, in turn, will activate pro-social norms, which is also why both adults and children are more willing to make donations when they are being observed [ 73 ], [ 74 ], [ 75 ].…”

Young Children Are More Generous When Others Are Aware of Their Actions

“…Indeed, research suggests that people’s prosocial tendencies are impacted by audience cues that are even incidentally presented. Merely exposing people to eyespots or other subtle audience cues can increase prosociality in adults [44] – [47] (but see also [48] – [50] ), even though people may not consciously realize their behavior is being influenced by these cues. The tendency to act more prosocially in the presence of subtle environmental cues that could possibly be perceived as an audience suggests that our reputational motivations may draw on the simplest and most evolutionarily old of cognitive mechanisms [51] .…”

Sexual selection and the evolution of altruism: males are more altruistic and cooperative towards attractive females

“…Altruism refers to an act which is beneficial to the receiver and costly for the altruist (Trivers, 1971). Niwa, Hiraishi, and Oda (2011) argue that we display altruism towards those we have no relationship with, which is an evolutionary puzzle. It is a well-known fact that generosity leads to rewards (Oda, Niwa, Honma, & Hiraishi, 2011), with recent research suggesting that generosity can lead to rewards in the mating market (Barclay, 2013).…”