What is the nature of the relationship between altruistic behavior and feelings of gratitude?

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Open access

Highlights

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An interactive paradigm is used to elicit gratitude under risky or ambiguous cost.

Perceived kind intention mediates beneficiary’s generation of gratitude.

Fear- and anxiety-related processes are implicated in both types of uncertainty.

Mentalizing and conflict monitoring processes are linked with ambiguity processing.

Abstract

Gratitude arises when one is the target of an altruistic decision, particularly when this decision incurs cost to the agent. Here we examined how individuals evaluate others’ altruistic decisions under risky (uncertainty with known probabilities) and ambiguous (uncertainty with unknown probabilities) costs and respond with gratitude and reciprocity. Participants played an interactive game in an fMRI scanner in which they would receive painful electric shocks. An anonymous co-player either intentionally (Human conditions) or unintentionally (Computer conditions) decided whether to help the participant reduce half of the pain by undertaking an amount of pain (i.e., cost) with varying level of uncertainty (Certain vs. Risky vs. Ambiguous). Participants could then transfer monetary points to the co-player knowing that the co-player was unaware of this transfer. Behaviorally, monetary allocation and gratitude rating increased as the uncertainty level of cost increased in Human conditions; these effects were reduced in Computer conditions. The effect of cost uncertainty on gratitude was mediated by the perceived kind intention behind the help. FMRI revealed both shared and differential neurocognitive substrates for evaluating the benefactor’s altruistic decisions under risk and ambiguity: both were associated with fear- and anxiety-related processes, involving right lateral orbitofrontal cortex and anterior insula; ambiguity additionally recruited mentalizing- and conflict monitoring-related processes, involving dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. These findings underscore the crucial role of social uncertainty perception in the generation of gratitude.

Keywords

Ambiguity

Risk

Uncertainty

fMRI

Gratitude

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc.

Under a Creative Commons license

Open access

Abstract

This research focuses on the potential positive effects of time spent on Instagram, a visual-based social media tool, on Gen Y and Z gratitude, altruism, and willingness to donate to charities. Despite the prevalence in the media of Instagram’s negative effects on consumers’ well-being, our research suggests time spent on it might have an instant positive effect on consumers. Specifically, our three studies show the average and heavy Instagram users express more gratitude, feel more altruistic, and end up donating more than light users. We discuss the results in light of the role of hedonism and escape from negative feelings as mechanism explaining the effect. We offer theoretical and managerial implications of these results and discuss the role of Instagram to better promote a responsible and well-being oriented use of Instagram by companies and organizations.

Keywords

Time spent on Instagram

Gratitude

Altruism

Willingness to donate

Well-being

Transformative consumer research

Monica Mendini is Lecturer-researcher in Marketing at the Department of Business Economics, Health and Social Care of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, SUPSI. Before joining SUPSI, she obtained her Ph.D. in Marketing (sponsored by the Swiss National Science Foundation, Doc.CH) at the Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano, where she still teaches in graduate programs. Her research focuses mainly on consumer behavior, with particular reference to consumer-brand relationships, cause-marketing, design thinking, XR technologies, food consumption and consumer well-being. Her work has been published in the Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Qualitative Market Research and Marketing Education Review.

Paula C. Peter is Professor of Marketing at San Diego State University (SDSU). She is a consumer behaviourist and educator passionate about social impact research and sustainable innovations. Her interests are on experiential marketing (with an emphasis on luxury and food consumption), social media, XR technologies (AR/VR), design thinking, and consumer psychology. Dr. Peter's research has been published in academic journals such as: Journal of Service Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Marketing Theory, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing Education, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Research for Consumers, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, etc.

Salvatore Maione is a Ph.D. student in Marketing at the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society of the Università della Svizzera italiana. His research focus is mainly on the analysis of consumers’ preferences with the adoption of discrete choice models (hybrid choice models, in particular).

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.