Self-control Buffers the Mortality Salience Effect on Fairness-related Decision-making

Fairness-related decision-making often involves a conflict between egoistic and prosocial motives. Previous research based on Terror Management Theory (TMT) indicates that mortality salience can promote both selfish and prosocial behaviors, leaving its effect on fairness-related decision-making uncertain. By integrating TMT with the strength model of self-control, we propose that managing death-related thoughts depletes self-control strength, thereby impairing individuals' ability to resist selfish impulses during fairness-related decision-making tasks. Additionally, this effect is moderated by dispositional self-control. We tested these hypotheses in two studies. Participants were primed with either mortality salience or negative affect and then asked to made a series of binary choices (equal allocation vs. unequal allocation favoring themselves) to distribute monetary resources. In both studies, mortality salience heightened selfish tendencies, leading allocate resources less equitably. Study 2 further revealed that this effect occurred among participants with low, but not high, self-control. These findings indicate that mortality salience promotes selfishness and inequitable resource allocation, but that self-control can buffer these effects.