AN INTROSPECTION INTERVENTION FOR PERCEIVED INEFFICACY IN CHARITABLE GIVING by MARCUS WILLIAM MAYORGA A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Psychology and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2019 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Marcus William Mayorga Title: An Introspection Intervention for Perceived Inefficacy in Charitable Giving This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Psychology by: Paul Slovic Chairperson Robert Mauro Core Member Sara Hodges Core Member Scott Maier Institutional Representative and Janet Woodruff-Borden Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2019 ii © 2019 Marcus William Mayorga This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NoDerivs (International) License. iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Marcus William Mayorga Doctor of Philosophy Department of Psychology June 2019 Title: An Introspection Intervention for Perceived Inefficacy in Charitable Giving Observed biases in how people value human life have sparked an area of research investigating the mental processes leading to the devaluing of mass suffering. Parallel lines of research in psychology, economics, marketing, and environmental sciences are seeking to understand why people act to help others at all. The emotional and deliberative process in contexts of giving behaviors are complex and evolving. This dissertation focuses on one such bias: pseudoinefficacy, or the dampening of anticipated positive affect from giving, driven by the sense that we cannot help everyone at risk in given context. First a literature review of the relevant studies and previous work on the concept of “warm glow” is presented. Next, two studies are described that were conducted in an effort to replicate previous findings and test a possible de-biasing intervention: structured introspection. A structured introspection task that asked participants to think deeply about the factors influencing their prosocial decisions was tested against instructions to deliberate and against a no-instruction control. Results were mixed. The pseudoinefficacy manipulation failed to replicate previous findings of dampened positive affect by being reminded of individual outside of reach for help. The introspection condition showed no obvious benefit in a one-shot donation paradigm. However, a study on blood donation found a significant increase in self-efficacy from the introspective task, leading to greater iv intentions to donate, and indirectly increasing actual donation behavior compared to the other conditions. An exploration of the data and future directions are discussed. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Marcus William Mayorga GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Psychology, 2019 University of Oregon Master of Science, Psychology, 2012 University of Oregon Bachelors of Science, Psychology & Philosophy, 2009, University of Oregon AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Judgment and Decision Making Emotion Individual Differences Statistical Modeling PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Research Coordinator, Decision Research, Eugene, OR, 2009-present Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon 20011-2019 Research Assistant, Decision Research, Eugene, OR, 2007-2009 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Best Student Poster- Honorable Mention, Ebola outbreak: A longitudinal study of risk perception, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, 2015 Clarence and Lucille Dunbar Scholarship, University of Oregon, 2016-2017 Carolyn M. Stokes Memorial Scholarship, University of Oregon, 2014 George and Susan Fugelsang Scholarship, 2008-2009 vi PUBLICATIONS: Garinther, A., Mayorga, M., Västfjäll D., & Slovic, P. (Revise and Resubmit). Information seeking and information avoidance in Americans’ decisions surrounding refugee resettlement policy. Journal of Refugee Studies. Mayorga M., Helsel, E., Hester, E., Ivanov, B., Sellnow, T, Slovic, P, & Burns, W. (2019). Enhancing Public Resistance to Deliberate Fake News: A Review of the Problem and a Proposition for Inoculation-Based Strategic Solution. In Handbook of Applied Communication Research (forthcoming) Mayorga M., & Johnson, B. (2018) A longitudinal study of concern and judged risk: the case of Ebola in the United States, 2014–2015, Journal of Risk Research, DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2018.1466827 Maier, S. R., Mayorga, M., & Slovic, P. (2017). Personalized news stories affect men as well as women. Newspaper Research Journal, 38(2), 172-186. Maier, S. R., Slovic, P., & Mayorga, M. (2016). Reader reaction to news of mass suffering: Assessing the influence of story form and emotional response. Journalism, 18(8), 1011-1029. Ivanov, B., Burns, W. J., Sellnow, T. L., Petrun Sayers, E. L., Veil, S. R., & Mayorga, M. W. (2016). Using an inoculation message approach to promote public confidence in protective agencies. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 44(4), 381-398. Västfjäll, D., Slovic, P., & Mayorga, M. (2015). Pseudoinefficacy: Negative feelings from children who cannot be helped reduce warm glow for children who can be helped. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 616. Dieckmann, N. F., Johnson, B. B., Gregory, R., Mayorga, M., Han, P. K., & Slovic, P. (2017). Public perceptions of expert disagreement: Bias and incompetence or a complex and random world? Public Understanding of Science, 26(3), 325-338. Västfjäll D., Slovic P., Mayorga M., & Peters E. (2014) Compassion Fade: Affect and Charity are greatest for a single child in need. PLoS ONE 9(6): e100115. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0100115. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to acknowledge my indescribable admiration and gratitude for my mentor and advisor, Paul Slovic. His guidance and expertise were critical to the development of this project and my career as a whole. Thank you, Daniel Västfjäll, for your vast knowledge, critical feedback, and positive attitude. My desire to conduct these studies was born from your fascinating research. A special thank you to my committee members, Robert Mauro, Sara Hodges, and Scott Maier, for ongoing support through my education in psychology. I wish to also acknowledge my friends and colleagues at Decision Research for providing a productive and positive environment to grow in as a scientist. I would also like to especially thank Ellen Peters, for her guidance, patience, and support during my early experiences with psychology. I would like to thank my family for supporting my passions and providing needed comedic relief on my educational journey. Lastly, I want to acknowledge my wife Kristin, for her unconditional support, generous patience, and tireless work ethic that made this dissertation possible. This dissertation was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant numbers 1757315 and 1559546. viii To Kristin, you are my foundation, mother of my children, forever my love, and eternal partner. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT .............................................. 1 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 4 Prosocial Motivations ............................................................................................ 4 Psychic Numbing ................................................................................................... 7 Compassion Fade ................................................................................................... 11 Pseudoinefficacy .................................................................................................... 12 Individual Differences and Prosocial Behavior ..................................................... 15 Intervention Design ................................................................................................ 21 Introspection .......................................................................................................... 23 Warm Glow ............................................................................................................ 25 III. GENERAL STUDY DESIGN AND HYPOTHESES ........................................... 42 IV. INTROSPECTION INTERVENTION IN CHARITABLE DONATIONS ......................................................................... 45 Rationale and Exploratory Hypotheses .................................................................. 45 Method ................................................................................................................... 51 Participants ....................................................................................................... 51 Design .............................................................................................................. 51 Materials .......................................................................................................... 52 Results .................................................................................................................... 55 Descriptive and Preliminary Analyses ............................................................. 55 Hypothesis Tests .............................................................................................. 59 x Chapter Page Exploratory Analyses ......................................................................................