Title |
Measuring the Distribution of Spitefulness
|
---|---|
Published in |
PLOS ONE, August 2012
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0041812 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Erik O. Kimbrough, J. Philipp Reiss |
Abstract |
Spiteful, antisocial behavior may undermine the moral and institutional fabric of society, producing disorder, fear, and mistrust. Previous research demonstrates the willingness of individuals to harm others, but little is understood about how far people are willing to go in being spiteful (relative to how far they could have gone) or their consistency in spitefulness across repeated trials. Our experiment is the first to provide individuals with repeated opportunities to spitefully harm anonymous others when the decision entails zero cost to the spiter and cannot be observed as such by the object of spite. This method reveals that the majority of individuals exhibit consistent (non-)spitefulness over time and that the distribution of spitefulness is bipolar: when choosing whether to be spiteful, most individuals either avoid spite altogether or impose the maximum possible harm on their unwitting victims. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 9 | 22% |
Sweden | 3 | 7% |
United Kingdom | 3 | 7% |
Canada | 2 | 5% |
United Arab Emirates | 1 | 2% |
Ukraine | 1 | 2% |
Netherlands | 1 | 2% |
India | 1 | 2% |
Papua New Guinea | 1 | 2% |
Other | 2 | 5% |
Unknown | 17 | 41% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 29 | 71% |
Scientists | 8 | 20% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 4 | 10% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 2 | 3% |
Switzerland | 1 | 2% |
Netherlands | 1 | 2% |
Indonesia | 1 | 2% |
Belgium | 1 | 2% |
United States | 1 | 2% |
Luxembourg | 1 | 2% |
Unknown | 54 | 87% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 13 | 21% |
Other | 9 | 15% |
Researcher | 5 | 8% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 5 | 8% |
Student > Bachelor | 5 | 8% |
Other | 17 | 27% |
Unknown | 8 | 13% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 15 | 24% |
Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 12 | 19% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 4 | 6% |
Computer Science | 3 | 5% |
Physics and Astronomy | 3 | 5% |
Other | 11 | 18% |
Unknown | 14 | 23% |