Leiden University Student Repository

Gerlach, Maxine (2022)

Effects of Environmental Uncertainty on Contribution Behavior in Social Dilemmas

Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)

In this study, we investigated how people’s contribution decisions in a public goods game change when uncertainty about the effects of the contribution is introduced. Additionally, we investigated whether social value orientation (SVO) and subjective wealth (SW) might have moderating effects on contribution behavior. Using a mixed model, we found that participants contributed significantly less in the uncertain condition when there was a chance that the contributions may be wasted compared to the certain condition. However, we did not find any moderating effects on contribution behavior for SVO and SW. When it was uncertain whether incurring a personal cost would benefit the collective, both pro-socials and pro-selves contributed less to a public good. Overall, participants seemed to choose the option with the highest expected utility and the least uncertainty.

Author

Gerlach, Maxine

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Social and Economic

Supervisors

Molenmaker, W.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en