Using Social Discounting to Measure Diabetes Discrimination

This study investigated whether social discounting could be used as a behavioral measure of discrimination for a vulnerable population. In particular, this study measured the impact of different hypothetical diabetes diagnoses on sharing during a social discounting task. Research shows both perceived discrimination against individuals diagnosed with diabetes (negative discrimination) and that individuals are willing to spend more money to treat rare medical conditions (prosocial discrimination). In a between-groups experiment, 228 university students were randomized into three different groups, and they completed a social discounting task with a hypothetical scenario in which they made repeated choices between keeping money for themselves and sharing it with individuals diagnosed with either Type 1 diabetes (Type 1 group), Type 2 diabetes (Type 2 group), or nothing about medical status (control group) across seven social distances. Results showed that participants receiving the Type 1 diagnosis description (i.e., rare medical condition) had lower social discounting rates (i.e., shared more) than the control group. In addition, the participants receiving the Type 1 diagnosis description were more likely to choose to share the maximum amount at all social distances, relative to the other two groups. Thus, participants who believed they were sharing with someone diagnosed with a rare medical condition exhibited significant prosocial discrimination (i.e., more likely to share). Implications for measuring discrimination via the social discounting task and other behavioral procedures are discussed.