The Rich Who Have the Humility of the Poor: Effects of Culture and Power on Altruism

The Rich Who Have the Humility of the Poor: Effects of Culture and Power on Altruism Niloufar Salehi (nsalehi@ce.sharif.edu) Department of Computer Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Azadi Ave., Tehran, Iran Morteza Dehghani (morteza@ict.usc.edu) Institute for Creative Technologies, University of Southern California, 1205 Waterfront Dr., Playa Vista, CA 90094-2536, USA relying on WEIRD populations (Henrich, Heine & Norenzayan, 2010). It has been widely discussed that many models and theories of decision-making are based on cultural assumptions and may not be universally applicable (e.g. Dastmalchian, Javidan & Alam, 2001; Jones, 2010; Henrich, et al., 2010; Hofstede, 1980). Arnett (2008) argues that the majority of psychological research focuses on American subjects, thus, neglecting 95% of the world’s population, a majority of whom live in vastly different societies. Further, limiting psychological models to small populations not only restricts the range that predictor variables can take, but also affectively limits discovery of other variables not yet included in the model (Weber & Hsee, 2000). In this study, we explore how power is associated with altruistic and sympathetic behavior among Iranians. Specifically, we aim to understand how legitimate as opposed to illegitimate feeling of power may affect prosocial decision-making. In other words, not only when, but also why do “the rich have the humility of the poor”? Abstract In this paper we investigate the effect of power on prosocial decision-making. While previous research has thoroughly investigated this relation in Western cultures, we focus our research on the role of power in an understudied Middle- Eastern culture. Existing literature suggest an inverse relationship between feeling of power and prosocial behavior, where generally people in high levels of power tend to act less sympathetically in their decisions and demonstrate declined levels of perspective taking towards others. Our findings demonstrate that, unlike their Western counterparts, Iranian participants show significantly higher levels of altruism when in a high-power situation perceived as legitimate. On the other hand, under illegitimate power conditions, participants primed with high-power act significantly less compassionately in comparison to their low-power counterparts. We believe these findings have great impact in studying social hierarchies and behavior in cross-cultural settings. Keywords: altruism; power prime; social hierarchy; decision- making; cross-cultural differences Introduction Theories of Power The beloved of the Almighty are the rich who have the humility of the poor, and the poor who have the magnanimity of the rich. -Saadi, 13 th century Persian poet Persian literature comprises a rich collection of myths, stories, and poems praising altruism and courtesy, especially among the powerful. Iranian children are encultured with stories, in which great kings and leaders are portrayed as generous, altruistic individuals. Such cultural products, created over generations, store and transmit cultural wisdom, and affect different aspects of people’s judgment and decision-making (Weber, Hsee & Sokolowska, 1998). Although the Iranian society has undergone a vast amount of societal change over the past decades, aspects of deeper cultural behavior have been transmitted through such cultural products, as tangible and public representations of the Iranian culture (Javidan & Dastmalchian, 2003). Several lines of research associate power with self- interested behavior; linking it to lack of perspective taking (Galinsky, Magee, Inesi & Gruenfeld, 2006), egoism (Batson, 1991) and moral reasoning (Lammers, Stapel & Galinsky, 2010), among others. However, we argue that many of these findings are based on Western cultures, In the study of social relationships, power is often referred to as the fundamental concept and basic force of behavior (Fiske, 1993; Kemper, 1991). Power is also closely related to the structures of personality (Wiggins & Broughton, 1985). Thus, a wide range of research has focused on understanding how power influences various aspects of cognition, such as stereotyping (Fiske, 1993), social decision making (Gruenfeld, 1995), and perspective taking (Galinsky et al., 2006). It has been widely argued that feeling of power results in displaying self-centered attitudes towards others, causing declined levels of perspective taking (Galinsky et al, 2006) and altruism (Batson, 1991). For example, in a recent study, Galinsky et al. (2006) asked participants under a high- or low-power experimental prime to draw an E on their foreheads – a procedure created by Hass (1984) to measure visual perspective taking of others. One way to draw the E is to consider one’s own perspective, resulting in a backwards E illegible to other viewers. The other way is to consider others’ perspective and draw an E backwards to oneself. They report that high-power participants were almost three times more likely to draw a self-oriented E than their low-power counterparts. Power is also linked to moral