Money and Morality

1

• Money and Morality
• Applying Terror Management Theory
• to the Use of Money

Eva Jonas Ludwig Maximilians-Universität
München
2
Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol
3
Terror Management Theory (Greenberg,
Solomon, Pyszczynski, 1997)
A shared conception of reality that imbues life
with meaning, order, and permanence, and the
promise of safety and death transcendence to
those who meet the prescribed standards of value.
The belief that one is living up to those
standards of value.
4
Underlying Process Death becomes
salient ? Immediate (direct) defense reactions
suppression / rationalization / denial
accessibility of death related thoughts is
decreased word completion task, e.g. COFF_ _, SK
_ LL, DE _ _, CO _ _ SE ? Death outside of focal
attention accessibility of death related
thoughts increases (unconscious) ? Distal
(symbolic) defense of cultural worldview and
self-esteem striving ? Accessibility of death
related thoughts is decreased
5
Terror Management Research

• IV Accessibility of death related thoughts
  (mortality salience)
• Thinking about ones own death, e.g. Please
  write down the first sentence that comes to your
  mind if you think about your own death.
• Subliminal priming
• Close proximity to a funeral home or cemetery
• DV Defense of cultural worldview or self-esteem
  striving
• Participants show increased liking for people who
  praise their own culture and devalue people who
  criticize their culture
• Harsher punishment for people who behave against
  cultural norms, e.g. prostitutes, and increased
  rewards for cultural heroes
• Increased financial expectations for ones own
  future (e.g. salary, house prices)
• Increased preference for prestigious consumption
  products

6
Terror Management and the Introduction of the Euro

• DM was an important cultural symbol
• The introduction of the Euro threatened the
  cultural identity of the Germans
• Mortality salience increases peoples striving to
  maintain faith in their culture and to defend
  their culture and its symbols against threats
• Mortality salience should decrease liking of the
  Euro and increase liking of the DM

7
The Influence of Mortality Salience (ms) on
Germans Reactions Towards the Euro and DM
Evaluation of currency
positive
neutral
negative
June 2001 University of Munich
Jonas et al., in press, Journal of Economic
Psychology
8
The Influence of Mortality Salience (ms) on
Germans Reactions Towards the Euro and DM
Evaluation of currency
positive
neutral
negative
Dec. 2002 Cemetery in Munich
June 2002 Cemetery in Magdeburg
Jonas et al., in press, Journal of Economic
Psychology
9
Death and Morality
TMT posits that mortality salience motivates
people to believe that they are valuable members
of their own culture. Culture incorporates moral
standards, e.g. bible love thy neighbor as thy
self Parables such as the Good Samatarian Famous
figures such as Mother Teresa, Gandhi Does
mortality salience lead people to behave
according to moral standards?
10
Mortality Salience and Materialism
Kasser and Sheldon (2000)? Of wealth and death
Materialism, mortality salience, and
consumption behavior ? Following mortality
salience more greedy behavior in a
ressource dilemma paradigm
11
How beneficial, necessary, and desirable are
charities to society?
Attitudes towards charities
positive
neutral
negative
(some blocks away from funeral home)
(in front of funeral home)
Jonas et al., 2002, Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin
12
Mortality Salience and Charitable Behavior

• 2 x 2 design mortality salience yes vs. no
  (between subjects) charities national vs.
  international (within subjects)
• Introductory psychology students of the
  University of Arizona (credits for
  participation)
• In the beginning distribution of 6 quarters
  1,50

13
Mortality Salience and Charitable Behavior

• Procedure
• Participants worked in individual cubicles on a
  packet of different questionnaires, among them
  Think about your own death vs. dental pain
• After that the experimenter asked of whether they
  were willing to support some specific charities
• Donations were anonymous by putting money in an
  envelope and putting the envelope into a box in
  the cubicle

14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
Donations for National vs. International Charities
Donations (transformed)
1.44
0.88
0.49
0.30
mortality salience
control group
Jonas et al., 2002, Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin
17
Donations for International Charities
Procedure Same procedure as before Only
difference choice between two international
charities
18
Donations for International Charities
Donations (transformed)
2.12
identification with the U.S.
0.82
0.81
0.67
19
Donations for International Charities following
the Activation of the Norm of Charity
20
Donations for International Charities Depending
on Norm Activation
Donations (transformed)
0.92
1.02
0.61
0.22
charity norm Florence Nightingale
neutral norm Marie Curie
21
Mortality Salience and Fairness

• Procedure
• Mortality salience manipulation
• Norm prime sentence unscrambling taske.g. That
  was a fair decision. They had equal chances. vs.
  The water boiled on the stove. Occasionally he
  drank vodka.
• Decision experiment Participants got an envelope
  with 10 single Dollar notes and were asked to
  distribute the money between themselves and an
  anonymous other person ( Dictator game).

22
Mortality Salience and Fairness
23
Results of the Dictator Game
Dollars for the other person
6.12
3.94
4.00
3.00
24
The Activation of Opposite Norms Common
Interest vs. Self Interest in a Ressource Dilemma
25
Behavior in a Ressource Dilemma Paradigm
Consumption
Norm prime
26
Consumption Behavior when Choosing Drinks
Choice of drink(1 mineral water/Apfelsaftschorl
e, 0 Coca Cola/Fanta)
norm prime
27
Conclusion

• Mortality salience is a basic human motivator,
  which affects - the evaluation of money
  - handling of money
• Mortality salience leads people to behave
  according to cultural norms.
• TMT provides an explanation why people are
  motivated to behave according to salient
  cultural norms ? because they want to be
  valuable members of their own culture
  because this helps them to cope with the
  awareness of death.
• There are different (sometimes even opposite)
  norms in a society, which are part of
  peoples cultural worldview to predict behavior
  it is important to know which norm is
  activated in a specific situation.