Center for Behavioral Decision Research

CBDR : Seminar Series : Seminar by Jeremy Burrus

Egocentrism vs. Egoism in Perceptions of Distributive Justice

	presented by Jeremy Burrus (Columbia University)


	Wednesday, January 30	link to paper
	1:30-3
	Posner 343	link to Speaker's Site

	Abstract:

	Previous research has suggested that judgments of distributive justice are self-serving or egoistic (e.g. Greenwald, 1983). However, in three experiments, we demonstrate that judgments of distributive justice are often a product of egocentrism. That is, people tend to focus more on their own contribution than on the contribution of their collaborators when making distributive justice judgments. As a result, people who have contributed a lot to a task think it is fairer for them to receive more favorable outcomes than others than to receive less favorable outcomes than others. However, this effect is reversed when participants have contributed little to the task. This should occur even when participants believe that their partners contribute just as much, or as little, as they have. In three experiments, participants answered trivia questions as part of a “quiz bowl team”, were paid money for their performance, and were asked to evaluate the distributive justice of the payments. Results provided support for the hypotheses.

	Host at CMU: Moore