Gender Differences in Social Discounting of Monetary Losses

In this chapter, we investigate gender differences in the social discounting of monetary losses. Based on the previous literature, we hypothesized that altruism measured by loss division between persons occupying different positions on a social distance scale is higher for women compared with men. We also expected that altruism in social discounting of monetary losses is higher for persons socially closer to the participant compared with the persons socially more distant. Finally, we predicted that differences in altruism (directed at others) between socially closer and socially more distant persons decrease when we move comparisons further on the social distance scale. The obtained results of a study (N = 155) allowed us to reject the hypothesis that altruism in monetary losses is higher for women than men. In fact, in our study, men turned out to be more altruistic. Surprisingly, we also found that altruism in the context of losses is higher for persons socially more distant to the decision-maker. The differences in altruism (directed at others) between socially closer and socially more distant persons decrease when we move comparisons to the more distant positions on a social distance scale. The latter result constitutes a specific preference reversal in the social discounting of monetary losses.