“If Giving Money to the Red Cross Increases Well-Being, Does Taking Money from the Red Cross Increase Ill-Being?—Evidence from Three Experiments”, 2021-08 (; similar):
A small sum of money donated to Red Cross in a button-pushing activity increased participant well-being.
Similar sum of money detracted from a donation to Red Cross in a button-pushing activity did not increase ill-being.
Participants might compensate their negative impact by emphasizing the positive impact they are having towards science.
Does having a negative impact on others decrease one’s well-being?
In 3 separate pre-registered studies (n = 111, n = 445, & n = 447), participants engaged in a button-pushing activity for 4 min in 3 conditions: earning money for themselves (~60c), also earning money for the Red Cross (~15c), or also reducing the money distributed to the Red Cross (~15c).
The results of the individual studies and a meta-analysis across them showed that positive impact increased well-being, but even though participants were aware of the negative impact they were having, there was no increased ill-being in the negative impact condition. In Study 3 we examined whether participants in the negative impact condition are mentally compensating by emphasizing the positive impact they are having towards science.
[Keywords: antisocial behavior, ill-being, prosocial behavior, prosocial impact, well-being]