Is Over-Taking Immoral?—Taking and Donating in Resource Dilemma with No Damage Threshold

Previous studies have demonstrated that social value orientations and feedback affected cooperative behavior in environmental contexts, but they often set a clear bearing threshold of the environment. To better reflect reality, we simulated a natural environment in a fishbowl and created a water resource dilemma with no damage thresholds. The results showed that in resource dilemma with no damage thresholds, prosocials took the same amount of water as proselfs, both in situations involving life value (Study 1) and no life value (Study 2), and did not experience greater guilt for environmental damage (Studies 1 and 2). This contrasts with findings from studies with damage thresholds, where prosocial individuals typically took less. However, after environmental damage occurred, prosocials donated more water than proselfs to repair the environment. Life values decreased resource-taking and increased donations (Study 2). Feedback indicating that others had donated more (Study 1) or that the participant was the main cause of environmental damage (Study 2) increased donations. Our research provides practical implications for designing effective interventions and policies to foster sustainable behaviors, emphasizing the importance of social value orientation, feedback, and moral emotions in motivating cooperative actions.