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Heterogeneous preferences for altruism: gender and personality, social status, giving and taking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Michael S. Visser  and
Matthew R. Roelofs
Michael S. Visser*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Sonoma State University, 1801 East Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park, CA 94928, USA
Matthew R. Roelofs*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Western Washington University, 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA
*
e-mail: visser@sonoma.edu
e-mail: matthew.roelofs@wwu.edu
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Abstract

Some of the earliest work on heterogeneity in social preferences focuses on gender differences in behavior. The source of these gender differences is the main interest of this paper. We report on dictator game experiments designed to identify heterogeneity of other-regarding preferences according to personality, gender, status, and whether the choice is framed as giving or taking. We find that the effect of gender on giving is more subtle than previously understood, and is explained collectively by various personality factors. We also find that women, high status treatment individuals, and individuals in the giving language treatment give less, and are also less sensitive to the price of giving.

Keywords

AltruismStatusGenderFraming effectsPersonality

JEL classification

D63: Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement A13: Relation of Economics to Social Values D64: Altruism • Philanthropy • Intergenerational Transfers D01: Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles C91: Laboratory, Individual Behavior
Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , November 2011 , pp. 490 - 506
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 Economic Science Association

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Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi: 10.1007/s10683-011-9278-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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