Giving Time vs . Giving Money: Which is Better for Moral Cleansing?

Time and money are both important but distinct concepts. Spending time allows one to feel personally connected to others (Mogilner and Aaker, 2009), and consider emotional meaning rather than economic utility (Liu and Aaker, 2008). On the other hand, compared to time, money is more functional and less personally connected (Mogilner and Aaker, 2009); simply the thought of money increases feelings of independence and reduces helping behavior (Vohs, Meade, and Goode, 2006). One stream of research that has employed the concepts of time and money is the work on moral transgression. After committing a moral transgression, the transgressor is motivated to compensate in some way, to right their wrongs. People like to cleanse themselves when their moral identity is threatened, whether the cleansing be metaphorical or physical (Sachdeva, Iliev, and Medin, 2009; Zhong and Liljenquist, 2006). Further, donating money and time are seen as substitutable methods to compensate for past bad behaviour (Sachdeva et al, 2009; Tetlock, et al. 2002), and donating time and donating money are often interchangeable (Andreoni, Gale, and Scholz, 1996; Bryant et al. 2003).