An Experimental Study of Prosocial Motivation among Criminals

By: Sigbjørn Birkeland with Alexander W  Cappelen, Erik Sørensen, and Bertil Tungodden.

Published in:

Experimental Economics 2013

Abstract:

The fact that criminal behavior typically has negative consequences for others provides a compelling reason to think that criminals lack prosocial motivation. This paper reports the results from two dictator game experiments designed to study the prosocial motivation of criminals. In a lab experiment  involving prisoners, we find a striking similarity in the prosocial behavior of criminals and non- criminals, both when they interact with criminals and when they interact with non-criminals. Similarly, in an Internet experiment on a large sample from the general population, we find no difference in the prosocial behavior of individuals with and without a criminal record. We argue that our findings provide evidence of criminals being as prosocially motivated as non-criminals in an important type of   distributive situations.

Keywords: Prosocial motivation, Criminals.

Published June 25, 2014 11:35 AM - Last modified Mar. 7, 2024 11:50 PM