Money Affects Theory of Mind Differently by Gender

Abstract

Theory of Mind (ToM) ─ the ability to understand other’s thoughts, intentions, and emotions ─ is important for navigating interpersonal relationships, avoiding conflict, and empathizing. Prior research has identified many factors that affect one’s ToM ability, but little work has examined how different kinds of monetary incentives affect ToM ability. We ask: Does money affect ToM ability? If so, how does the effect depend on the structure of monetary incentives? How do the differences depend on gender? We hypothesize that money will affect ToM ability differently by gender: monetary rewards increase males’ motivation to express ToM ability while simultaneously crowding out females’ motivation. This prediction is confirmed in an experiment that varies the structure of monetary rewards for correct answers in the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). RMET scores decrease for females and increase for males with individual payments, and this effect is stronger with competitively-structured payments. RMET scores do not significantly change when monetary earnings go to a charity. Whether money improves or hinders ToM ability, and, hence, success in social interactions, thus depends on the interaction of gender and monetary incentive structure.

Money: An Integrated Review and Synthesis From a Psychological Perspective

“…Ma-Kellams and Blascovich (2013) also revealed that money increases independent self-construal, F(1, 119) = 9.79, p = .002, d = 0.37, and dampens collective self-construal, F(1, 119) = 5.33, p = .023, d = 0.25, supporting the aforementioned shift from communalism to individualism. Similarly, participants' accuracy in inferring others' mental states was found to vary with the form and structure of incentives (Ridinger & McBride, 2015). Specifically, female participants performed significantly worse when they were told that they would be paid $0.40 for each correct answer than when no incentive was mentioned, β = −1.42, p = .03, 95% confidence interval [CI] [−2.72, −0.12], suggesting that money dampened intrinsic motivation to display empathy.…”

The interpersonal effects of emotions in money versus candy games

“…Further research showed that money-related incentives or thoughts reduce the accuracy of emotional inferences (Ma-Kellams, & Blascovich, 2013), compassion towards unfortunate others (Molinsky, Grant, & Margolis, 2012;Stellar, Manzo, Kraus, & Keltner, 2012), and perspective-taking (Sheldon & Kasser, 1995;Van Laer, De Ruyter, & Cox, 2013). They also undermine motives to perceive a mind in irrelevant targets (Wang & Krumhuber, 2017) and impair theory of mind ability (Ridinger & McBride, 2015).…”

Shame and Theory-of-Mind Predicts Rule-Following Behavior

“…The ability of understand what others will do in game theoretic situations depends crucially on the ability to recognize the others utility function and their beliefs. This ability is known as ToM and typically after the age of five children are often described as having ToM [25,26]. ToM is often described as a discrete phenomenon where a person either possesses it or has a deficit.…”

“…ToM is often described as a discrete phenomenon where a person either possesses it or has a deficit. However, research has shown even in non-clinical adult populations there can be substantial variation in ToM ability [25][26][27]. One issue in prior research on individual differences in ToM is that measures of ToM often exhibit ceiling effects making it difficult to observe any heterogeneity in ToM ability [27].…”

“…However, more advanced ToM measures designed for adult populations show substantial variation in ToM [25,27]. For example, individuals on the autism spectrum often exhibit lower ToM ability [25], females typically manifest slightly higher ToM ability compared to males [28], and there is wide variation in ToM in non-clinical populations [25][26][27].…”