Tokens effect on the motivation of prosocial behaviour: a computerized real effort task

There is strong evidence that extrinsic rewards (e.g., money) for individuals crowds out their intrinsic motivation (or image reputation) for prosocial behaviour. For instance, rewarding people for donating blood leads to reductions in blood donations. However, there is little research on the effects of tokens – as a medium of reward and exchange – at motivating prosocial behaviour. Given the increased use of token systems on blockchain technology it is important to understand the motivational effects associated with them. We will measure the difference in prosocial effort from individuals in different motivation treatments. To address this aim we developed a 'real effort task' experiment, the more effort the participants put in the more money is donated to a charity - this represents a prosocial behaviour. There are 3 between subject treatments (randomly assigned): 1) no extrinsic motivation (i.e. no reward, just the donation to charity); 2) payment (reward for effort plus donation to charity); 3) tokens (reward for effort plus donation to charity).