Pronoun drop and prosocial behavior : experimental evidence from Japan
We join a growing body of literature suggesting that the languages people speak influence their decision-making. We tested whether dropping the first-person pronoun “I” affects prosocial behavior in a dictator game-like setting. To this end, we conducted an online randomized, incentivized experiment...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/144470 |
| _version_ | 1824455506233655296 |
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| author | He, Tai-Sen Riyanto, Yohanes Eko Tanaka, Saori C. Yamada, Katsunori |
| author2 | School of Social Sciences |
| author_facet | School of Social Sciences He, Tai-Sen Riyanto, Yohanes Eko Tanaka, Saori C. Yamada, Katsunori |
| author_sort | He, Tai-Sen |
| collection | NTU |
| description | We join a growing body of literature suggesting that the languages people speak influence their decision-making. We tested whether dropping the first-person pronoun “I” affects prosocial behavior in a dictator game-like setting. To this end, we conducted an online randomized, incentivized experiment with a socially representative sample of 2,000 Japanese respondents. We provide compelling causal evidence that pronoun-dropping reduces pro-sociality. Given that our results provide little empirical support for previous research findings linking first-person pronoun use and lower pro-sociality, we prescribe caution in using languages as a proxy for culture in several cross-country empirical studies in economics. |
| first_indexed | 2025-02-19T03:39:17Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/144470 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T03:39:17Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1444702023-03-05T15:35:10Z Pronoun drop and prosocial behavior : experimental evidence from Japan He, Tai-Sen Riyanto, Yohanes Eko Tanaka, Saori C. Yamada, Katsunori School of Social Sciences Social sciences::Economic theory::Microeconomics Pronoun Drop Language Pro-social Behavior We join a growing body of literature suggesting that the languages people speak influence their decision-making. We tested whether dropping the first-person pronoun “I” affects prosocial behavior in a dictator game-like setting. To this end, we conducted an online randomized, incentivized experiment with a socially representative sample of 2,000 Japanese respondents. We provide compelling causal evidence that pronoun-dropping reduces pro-sociality. Given that our results provide little empirical support for previous research findings linking first-person pronoun use and lower pro-sociality, we prescribe caution in using languages as a proxy for culture in several cross-country empirical studies in economics. Accepted version 2020-11-06T05:06:58Z 2020-11-06T05:06:58Z 2020 Journal Article He, T.-S., Riyanto, Y. E., Tanaka, S. C., & Yamada, K. (2020). Pronoun drop and prosocial behavior : experimental evidence from Japan. Journal of the Economic Science Association, 6, 13-25. doi:10.1007/s40881-020-00083-4 2199-6784 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/144470 10.1007/s40881-020-00083-4 6 13 25 en Journal of the Economic Science Association © 2020 Springer. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of the Economic Science Association. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40881-020-00083-4 application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Social sciences::Economic theory::Microeconomics Pronoun Drop Language Pro-social Behavior He, Tai-Sen Riyanto, Yohanes Eko Tanaka, Saori C. Yamada, Katsunori Pronoun drop and prosocial behavior : experimental evidence from Japan |
| title | Pronoun drop and prosocial behavior : experimental evidence from Japan |
| title_full | Pronoun drop and prosocial behavior : experimental evidence from Japan |
| title_fullStr | Pronoun drop and prosocial behavior : experimental evidence from Japan |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pronoun drop and prosocial behavior : experimental evidence from Japan |
| title_short | Pronoun drop and prosocial behavior : experimental evidence from Japan |
| title_sort | pronoun drop and prosocial behavior experimental evidence from japan |
| topic | Social sciences::Economic theory::Microeconomics Pronoun Drop Language Pro-social Behavior |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/144470 |
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