Collaboration induces debt-motivated altruism

Abstract

Collaboration with others—even a minimal instance—increases willingness to bear costs on their behalf. What is the mechanism underlying this effect? This prosocial behavior could be driven by an egoistic motivation or an altruistic motivation—and altruistic motivations could reflect either unbounded altruism or bounded altruism. I hypothesize that the collaboration effect operates by creating a sense of obligation or indebtedness to one's partner, thereby increasing willingness to sacrifice via a bounded form of altruism. I test this hypothesis in a randomized experiment and replication (Experiments 1 and 2), finding evidence that people behave as if collaboration creates an obligation of debt owed to the collaborator. Then, I rule out that the mechanism at work is simply increased inequality aversion, demonstrating that collaboration can decrease inequality aversion within a context of baseline equality (Experiment 3) and within a context of disadvantageous inequality (Experiment 4).