Relationships between two types of reputational concern and altruistic behavior in daily life

Abstract

Although many studies have shown that reputational cues promote altruism, few studies have focused on individual differences. The present study provides novel evidence indicating that the relationship between reputational concern and altruistic behavior differs according to the type of reputational concern involved and the recipients of altruism. Specifically, the relationships between individual differences of two reputational concerns (i.e., praise seeking and rejection avoidance) and the frequency with which participants exhibited altruistic behavior toward various individuals (i.e., family members, friends/acquaintances, and strangers) were examined. As predicted, neither type of reputational concern was significantly associated with altruistic behavior toward family members. This is understandable, as altruistic behavior toward familiar people is unlikely to lead to a good reputation. Conversely, praise seeking predicted altruistic behavior toward friends/acquaintances and strangers, whereas rejection avoidance did not. These findings are consistent with recent literature suggesting the effectiveness of positive reputation systems to promote generosity, relative to negative reputation systems. Furthermore, rejection avoidance was negatively associated with altruistic behavior toward strangers; we discussed the possibility that this was because such behavior was not very normative. Our findings provide useful insight for future studies examining the relationship between reputation and altruistic behavior.

The relationship between rejection avoidance and altruism is moderated by social norms

“…The present study found that the relationship between rejection avoidance and altruism was moderated by social norms; that is, people who fear rejection from others tend to inhibit altruism only when altruism was not perceived as normative. These findings contribute to explaining the results of previous study (Kawamura & Kusumi, 2018), which found that rejection avoidance is related to altruism toward strangers.…”

“…For example, Parks and Stone (2010) demonstrated that a person who excessively contributed more toward public goods than others was negatively evaluated by other group members. This finding is in line with Kawamura and Kusumi (2018) who measured altruism toward strangers, which is less normative compared to altruism toward more familiar recipients. Taken together these studies suggests that, when altruism is not evaluated as normative, people with high rejection avoidance may inhibit altruistic behavior in fear of possible negative evaluation from others.…”

“…Two types of reputational concern were assessed using the 18-item Praise Seeking and Rejection Avoidance Need Scales (Kojima, Ohta, & Sugawara, 2003; sample items were found in Kawamura & Kusumi, 2018). Participants indicated the extent to which they agreed with statements on a five-point Likert scale (1 = false for me, 5 = true for me).…”

“…As predicted, the interaction of rejection avoidance and norm was significant. Simple slope analyses revealed that Hierarchical multiple regression analyses with empathic traits were also conducted as empathic traits are often related to altruism (Kawamura & Kusumi, 2018).…”

“…However, a recent study has shown that this relationship is not always positive. Kawamura and Kusumi (2018) examined how praise seeking, the tendency to seek a good reputation, and rejection avoidance, the tendency to avoid a bad reputation (Wu, Balliet, & Van Lange, 2016), were related to altruism toward various recipients (i.e., family members, friends/acquaintances, and strangers). As predicted, individuals with higher levels of praise seeking displayed more altruism; however, individuals with higher levels of rejection avoidance displayed less altruism toward strangers.…”