I thought about that, but I think it doesn’t quite fit the details of the study. For example, in Study 1, they asked people to choose between two options:
Give opponents $1, no effect on you.
Your side loses $1, no effect on opponents.
The second option was much more popular, even though it involved taking a loss. So it seems to me that, if anything, loss aversion makes these results even more surprising. What do you think?
It seems like the explanation is that the desire to conform to the imagined norm in order to reinforce identity is so powerful that it can even override loss aversion to a large degree.
I thought about that, but I think it doesn’t quite fit the details of the study. For example, in Study 1, they asked people to choose between two options:
Give opponents $1, no effect on you.
Your side loses $1, no effect on opponents.
The second option was much more popular, even though it involved taking a loss. So it seems to me that, if anything, loss aversion makes these results even more surprising. What do you think?
I agree and now am pretty confused.
It seems like the explanation is that the desire to conform to the imagined norm in order to reinforce identity is so powerful that it can even override loss aversion to a large degree.