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Pronoun drop and prosocial behavior: experimental evidence from Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Tai-Sen He Open the ORCID record for Tai-Sen He [Opens in a new window] ,
Yohanes E. Riyanto ,
Saori C. Tanaka  and
Katsunori Yamada
Tai-Sen He*
Affiliation:
Economics Programme, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 48 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639818, Singapore
Yohanes E. Riyanto*
Affiliation:
Economics Programme, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 48 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639818, Singapore
Saori C. Tanaka*
Affiliation:
Advanced Telecommunication Research Institute International, Keihanna Science City, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
Katsunori Yamada*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Economics, Kindai University, 228-3, Shin-Kami-Kosaka, Higashiōsaka 577-0813, Japan
*
e-mail: ts.he@ntu.edu.sg
yeriyanto@ntu.edu.sg
xsaori@atr.jp
kyamada@kindai.ac.jp
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Abstract

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 pro-social behavior in a dictator game-like setting. To this end, we conducted an online randomized, incentivized experiment with a socially representative sample of 2000 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.

Keywords

Pronoun drop languagePro-social behaviorSocial-value orientationIncentivized online experiment

JEL classification

D64: Altruism • Philanthropy • Intergenerational Transfers C92: Laboratory, Group Behavior Z13: Economic Sociology • Economic Anthropology • Language • Social and Economic Stratification
Type
Original Paper
Information
Journal of the Economic Science Association , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , June 2020 , pp. 13 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © Economic Science Association 2020

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Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40881-020-00083-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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