Slicing the Social Pie: How Scarcity and Competition Shape Symbolic Zero-Sum Beliefs

The economic and social structures that we live in are often based on winners and losers, havers and have nots, those who belong and those who don't. The tendency to view situations along these terms, where one person's gain comes at the cost of someone else's loss, is referred to as zero-sum thinking. But it does not always have to be this way. In my dissertation, I explore zero-sum beliefs for material resources (e.g., money, physical items) where there could be a real limit and symbolic resources (e.g., love, respect) where there shouldn't be a limit. In Chapter 1, I examine how adults and children think about symbolic resources and find that symbolic zero-sum beliefs are naturally lower than material zero-sum beliefs, but also are malleable to changes in renewability. In Chapter 2, I demonstrate that competitive work environments not only increase material zero-sum beliefs, but also make symbolic resources feel more zero-sum as well. In Chapter 3, I show how organizations can either reduce or increase competitive zero-sum thinking by emphasizing resource abundance or limitation. Overall, these findings further our understanding of zero-sum thinking and have implications for fostering more cooperative social environments.