6. Experiment 4: Legacy interventionIn Experiment 4, in addition to replicating the findings from theprevious experiments using the same allocation context and task asExperiment 3, we also tested Hypothesis 3 by examining the role oflegacy motivation in alleviating the adverse effect of knowing pastgenerations' selfish intent. Specifically, we examined whether inducinglegacy motivations would help people to circumvent the effect of pastgenerations' self-serving behavior.6.1. ParticipantsSample size was determined before any data analysis. Given theeffect size found in Experiment 3, we chose a similar sample size ofapproximately 60 per group. Four hundred and fifty-four participants(age = 18–73 years; Mean age = 34 years, SD = 11.62 years) who didnot complete the previous experiment were recruited through Amazon'sMechanical Turk. Participants took part in a 15-minute online study inexchange for $1. All participants were U.S. residents (61% male).6.2. Materials and procedureExperiment 4 used a 2 (legacy motivation: induction vs. control) × 2 (intention: generous vs. selfish) × 2 (outcome: good vs. bad)between-subjects design. First, participants who were randomly assigned to the legacy induction condition wrote a brief essay about theways in which they would like to have an impact on future generations(Zaval, Markowitz, & Weber, 2015). Next, all participants completedthe same allocation task (Mannix & Loewenstein, 1994) that was used inExperiment 2, which contained our intention and outcome experimental manipulations. They then completed the stewardship scale, theintent manipulation check questions, and demographics questions.6.2.1. Legacy motivation inductionWe used an adapted version of the legacy motive induction taskdeveloped by Zaval et al. (2015). This writing task has been shown toinduce domain-general legacy motivation and increase the salience offuture generations that will benefit from one's legacy. Participants wererandomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions. In the legacyinduction condition, participants were asked to write a brief essayabout the ways in which they would like to have an impact on futuregenerations. Specifically, they were asked to think about the ways inwhich they would like to have an impact on other people in the future,how they would like to be remembered by future generations, and howthey would like the world to be different as a result of themselveshaving lived. They were told that the task should take them approximately 5–7 min to complete and should be roughly half a page long.Consistent with the original procedure used by Zaval et al. (2015), thiswriting task was omitted in the control condition.6.2.2. Organizational investment taskWe used the same allocation task (Mannix & Loewenstein, 1994)that was used in Experiment 3. With a pool of $10,000, we askedparticipants to decide how much money they would like to withdraw astheir individual profit and how much money to leave behind for thefirm and their successor's reinvestment.6.2.3. Intention manipulationParticipants were randomly assigned to one of the two intentionconditions. In the generous intention condition, participants were toldthat their previous stakeholders left behind over 90% of the resource forthe firm. In the selfish intention condition, they were told that theirprevious stakeholders withdrew over 90% of the resource for their ownindividual profit.6.2.4. Outcome manipulationNext, we provided information about the rate of return at the timethe previous stakeholders made the decision. In the good outcomecondition, participants were told that the rate of return was high, and asa result, it increased the resource pool size for investment to $10,000. Inthe bad outcome condition, participants were told that the rate of return was low, and as a result, it decreased the resource pool to $10,000.6.2.5. Allocation decisionAfter reading all the information, participants indicated the amountfor their added income and the firm's reinvestment, adding up to a totalof $10,000.