Ritika Pabari ’22, a double major in psychology and business, has received the Edward Guiliano Global Fellowship, which provides students with the opportunity to have a truly enriching transformational educational experience by broadening their perspectives as they engage with the world beyond Stony Brook University and their local communities.
Pabari will conduct research on how obligation motives for prosocial spending may be more or less tightly linked to well-being in collectivist cultures compared to individualist cultures. The funding will allow her to travel to San Francisco, CA, where she will oversample individuals from collectivist cultural backgrounds. Part of the award will be used to recruit subjects from the San Francisco community. Pabari will then combine this sample with a sample collected at Stony Brook to test whether culture moderates the link between obligation motives and well-being.
“I am thrilled to advise Ritika and her research,” said Peter Caprariello, associate professor of marketing in the Stony Brook University College of Business. “Recent studies have shown that giving to others out of a sense of duty or obligation is less rewarding than giving to others out of sincere concern for their well-being or circumstances. But we do not yet know whether this pattern generalizes across cultures. In cultures like the United States, in which premiums are placed on independence, free thinking, and uniqueness, actions driven by obligation may feel transactional and burdensome. But in more collective cultures, which prize social harmony, social duties, and social roles, the same motive may feel authentic and purposeful. Addressing this hypothesis should be an exciting and impactful endeavor, especially for a young and rising scholar!”
Pabari proposed this study as an independent research project. She is also completing a senior honors thesis with her faculty mentor Jiyin Cao, associate professor of management in the College of Business at Stony Brook. Pabari wants to pursue a career in research and academia and is applying to PhD programs in organizational behavior for Fall 2022.
Add comment