A pretty interesting alternative hypothesis is what I call “kitten stabbing”. Let’s say that you believe every dollar given to Dems goes to TV ads, while every dollar donated to Reps goes towards building a giant robot Mitch McConnell that stabs kittens. If you’re a Rep, you can think of a giant mechanized Bill Clinton that bombs random embassies in Serbia instead. In this worldview, you still think your own side is more effectiveat achieving stated goals, but any money given to the other side is going towards pure evil. Therefore, you are more willing to take money from your side than to give to the opposition.
There’s also the “less money in politics” view, which is directly mentioned in many responses in the data table for S2. Example: “I’m sick of the big partied and their interference, so I’ll take any option to subtract money from them”.
However, these hypotheses are directly contradicted by the results of the “win-win” condition, where participants were given the ability to either give to their own side or remove money from the opposition. In those cases, something like 80% (!!) chose to give to their own side.
Many of the actual responses are pretty in line with what you would expect. “If I added $1 to the Republican organization, I would feel like I’m supporting the Republicans and I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to make it more likely that a Republican will be voted into office. By default, I chose to subtract $1 from the Democratic organization because that was my only choice that remained.”
For your proposed model to work, we have to assume that respondants think their own side is better at turning money into electoral victory, which they can then use to try and achieve concrete aims, but their opponents are able to turn money donated to their political campaign directly into concrete aims, without needing to achieve political victory. For example, the Democrats need to win the presidency to pass a law banning homophobic curriculums in the schools and thereby modestly advance the cause of gay rights, but the Republicans can spend campaign money directly on extremely effective homophobic TV advertising that has as major effect on stoking homophobia, no electoral victory required.
However, this still seems like a scenario in which the respondant is convinced that their opponent can spend the money more effectively than their own party. The study authors showed that even believing their own party spends money more effectively than the opposition doesn’t persuade people by default to protect their own donation while allowing the opposition an additional $1. So I don’t think your hypothesis fits the findings of the study, insofar as we can extrapolate.
Can you say where exactly you found the “I’m sick of the big parties and their interference” quote? I am having trouble finding it, not sure if you meant study 2 or supplementary 2 by S2.
However, these hypotheses are directly contradicted by the results of the “win-win” condition, where participants were given the ability to either give to their own side or remove money from the opposition.
I would argue this is a simple stealing is bad heuristic. I would also generally expect subtraction to anger the enemy and cause them stab more kittens.
A pretty interesting alternative hypothesis is what I call “kitten stabbing”. Let’s say that you believe every dollar given to Dems goes to TV ads, while every dollar donated to Reps goes towards building a giant robot Mitch McConnell that stabs kittens. If you’re a Rep, you can think of a giant mechanized Bill Clinton that bombs random embassies in Serbia instead. In this worldview, you still think your own side is more effective at achieving stated goals, but any money given to the other side is going towards pure evil. Therefore, you are more willing to take money from your side than to give to the opposition.
There’s also the “less money in politics” view, which is directly mentioned in many responses in the data table for S2. Example: “I’m sick of the big partied and their interference, so I’ll take any option to subtract money from them”.
However, these hypotheses are directly contradicted by the results of the “win-win” condition, where participants were given the ability to either give to their own side or remove money from the opposition. In those cases, something like 80% (!!) chose to give to their own side.
Many of the actual responses are pretty in line with what you would expect. “If I added $1 to the Republican organization, I would feel like I’m supporting the Republicans and I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to make it more likely that a Republican will be voted into office. By default, I chose to subtract $1 from the Democratic organization because that was my only choice that remained.”
I’m still very confused, tbh.
For your proposed model to work, we have to assume that respondants think their own side is better at turning money into electoral victory, which they can then use to try and achieve concrete aims, but their opponents are able to turn money donated to their political campaign directly into concrete aims, without needing to achieve political victory. For example, the Democrats need to win the presidency to pass a law banning homophobic curriculums in the schools and thereby modestly advance the cause of gay rights, but the Republicans can spend campaign money directly on extremely effective homophobic TV advertising that has as major effect on stoking homophobia, no electoral victory required.
However, this still seems like a scenario in which the respondant is convinced that their opponent can spend the money more effectively than their own party. The study authors showed that even believing their own party spends money more effectively than the opposition doesn’t persuade people by default to protect their own donation while allowing the opposition an additional $1. So I don’t think your hypothesis fits the findings of the study, insofar as we can extrapolate.
Can you say where exactly you found the “I’m sick of the big parties and their interference” quote? I am having trouble finding it, not sure if you meant study 2 or supplementary 2 by S2.
It’s the xlsx file in the supplementary 2 study. “Study S2”
I would argue this is a simple stealing is bad heuristic. I would also generally expect subtraction to anger the enemy and cause them stab more kittens.