Ego Depletion Decreases Trust in Economic Decision Making

Abstract

Three experiments tested the effects of ego depletion on economic decision making. Participants completed a task either requiring self-control or not. Then participants learned about the trust game, in which senders are given an initial allocation of $10 to split between themselves and another person, the receiver. The receiver receives triple the amount given and can send any, all, or none of the tripled money back to the sender. Participants were assigned the role of the sender and decided how to split the initial allocation. Giving less money, and therefore not trusting the receiver, is the safe, less risky response. Participants who had exerted self-control and were depleted gave the receiver less money than those in the non-depletion condition (Experiment 1). This effect was replicated and moderated in two additional experiments. Depletion again led to lower amounts given (less trust), but primarily among participants who were told they would never meet the receiver (Experiment 2) or who were given no information about how similar they were to the receiver (Experiment 3). Amounts given did not differ for depleted and non-depleted participants who either expected to meet the receiver (Experiment 2) or were led to believe that they were very similar to the receiver (Experiment 3). Decreased trust among depleted participants was strongest among neurotics. These results imply that self-control facilitates behavioral trust, especially when no other cues signal decreased social risk in trusting, such as if an actual or possible relationship with the receiver were suggested.

The dual-process approach to human sociality: Meta-analytic evidence for a theory of internalized heuristics for self-preservation

“…This result was also replicated in a subsequent work (Dickinson & McElroy, 2017). Consistent with this view, Ainsworth, Baumeister, Ariely and Vohs (2014) found that ego-depletion decreases trust. However, Evans, Dillon, Goldin and Krueger found that ego-depletion has no overall effect on trust, but it makes people more likely to follow the default choice, whichever that is.…”

“…Main result Time constraint studies Neo et al (2013) TG investor Delay has no effect on trust Jaeger et al 2019TG investor Pressure increases trust compared to Delay Ego depletion studies Anderson & Dickinson (2010) TG investor Sleep deprivation decreases trust Evans et al (2011) TG investor Ego depletion has no effect on trust, but it makes people more likely to follow the default Baumeister et al (2014) TG investor Ego depletion decreases trust Dickinson & McElroy (2017) TG investor Sleep deprivation decreases trust Rantapuska et al (2017) TG investor Hunger has no effect on trust Cognitive load studies Bonnefon et al (2013) TG investor Load has no effect on the capacity to detect trustworthiness Samson & Kostyszyn (2015) TG investor Load decreases trust Conceptual prime studies Urbig et al (2016) First mover in sequential PGG Second language has no effect on trust Note: TG stands for trust game; PGG stands for public goods game. Table 8 List of empirical studies exploring the cognitive basis of deontology vs. act utilitarianism.…”

The Dual-Process Approach to Human Sociality: A Review

“…This result was also replicated in a subsequent work (Dickinson & McElroy, 2017). Consistent with this view, Ainsworth, Baumeister, Ariely and Vohs (2014) found that ego-depletion decreases trust. Rantapuska et al (2017) found that hunger does not affect trust.…”

“…Main result Time constraint studies Neo et al (2013) Trust game investor Delay has no effect on trust Jaeger et al (in press) Trust game investor Pressure increases trust compared to Delay Ego depletion studies Anderson & Dickinson (2010) Trust game investor Sleep deprivation decreases trust Baumeister et al (2014) Trust game investor Ego depletion decreases trust Dickinson & McElroy (2017) Trust game investor Sleep deprivation decreases trust Rantapuska et al (2017) Trust game investor Hunger has no effect on trust Cognitive load studies Bonnefon et al (2013) Trust game investor Load has no effect on the capacity to detect trustworthiness Samson & Kostyszyn (2015) Trust game investor Load decreases trust Conceptual prime studies Urbig et al (2015) First mover in sequential public goods game Second language has no effect on trust…”

Depletion manipulations decrease openness to dissent via increased anger

“…Past research has suggested a negative relationship between depletion manipulations and perceived trust towards a task counterpart. For instance, ego depletion reportedly decreases trust towards another player in economic games (Ainsworth, Baumeister, Ariely, & Vohs, ). Relatedly, individuals subject to a depletion manipulation have been found to perceive a romantic partner's cheating behaviour as more severe than those not subject to a depletion manipulation (Stanton & Finkel, ).…”