The Role of Guilt in Social Utility Decision Making

This diploma thesis deals with the concept of guilt in social decision-making. The first part of the theoretical foundation lays the fundamental knowledge that is later used for the analysis. Data are collected using a within-subject laboratory experiment, where the task of 80 participants is to roll the tie in six different setting – treatments. Altogether, 480 observations are submitted to analysis. The observed effect of pure guilt on cheating is very limited if any. However, we find a significant effect of impure guilt. Placing an individual into the situation, where his decision of behaving honestly can harm others responds in the almost twice as greater size of cheating than in the situation, where he plays for himself. Another finding of this thesis is that men cheat twice as much as women and to full extent.