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on Cognitive and Behavioural Economics |
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Issue of 2025–02–17
seven papers chosen by Marco Novarese, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Yohei Mitani; Nobuyuki Hanaki |
| Abstract: | We conduct an online donation dictator game experiment with over 1, 300 participants, representative of the Japanese population, to investigate the relationship between the incentive scheme and prosocial behavior by systematically varying the stake size and probability of being paid, including those where the expected payments are controlled. We find that stake size is the main driver of donation decisions, even in the hypothetical scenario. Our result suggests that paying a large amount to a few participants incentivizes donation decisions better than paying a small amount to many in large-scale online experiments Creation-Date: 2025-2 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1273 |
| By: | Nigus, Halefom; Mohnen, Pierre (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, QE Econometrics); Nillesen, Eleonora (RS: GSBE UM-BIC, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, RS: GSBE MGSoG); Di Falco, S. |
| Abstract: | Using two lab-in-the-field experiments, we study whether initial transgression promote subsequent anti-social behavior. In the first stage subjects participated in an experimental market game. In the second stage, subjects were given an opportunity to participate in antisocial experiment. We find that subjects who impose a negative externality on uninvolved third parties in the market game are also more likely to burn their partner's income in the second experiment. This finding is consistent with a conscience-numbing effect but could possibly also be explained by participants' preferences for consistency. |
| JEL: | C93 D03 D62 D63 M14 |
| Date: | 2023–08–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2023027 |
| By: | Julia M. Puaschunder (Columbia University, New York, United States) |
| Abstract: | Discounting is a hallmark in economic theory and practice. Discounting future value of options determines human behavior and market pricing. Behavioral economics adds information about human discounting peculiarities, such as the present bias and hyperbolic discounting. An ample account of discounting research finds people focus on the present more than on the past and the future. Hyperbolic discounting describes the discounting function as hyperbola around the present moment. This tendency to overvalue the current now has been found to hold for human beings with applications to many domains. For looking back at previous times, the present bias helps cope with loss and sorrow. For planning the future, the present bias and hyperbolic discounting though are often found to lead to suboptimal choices over time. This paper presents evidence that human discounting varies by age. Data is presented about time perception of time use over time, which shows a varying pattern for different age groups. The paper then brings forward the need for further research on age-dependent discounting and discusses the role of imagination and changing one’s time perspective throughout life. Elder people are assumed to live more in the past and thinking about future generations, hence a lower present bias is speculated to be present in elders. |
| Keywords: | behavioral economics, discounting, elder, future generations, hyperbolic discounting, present bias, time discounting, younger |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0418 |
| By: | Michael Kosfeld; Zahra Sharafi; Maíra Sontag González; Na Zou |
| Abstract: | Developing reliable and practicable measures of economic preferences is a crucial task for empirical economic research with high value for both theory and applications. Here, we present results from a first comprehensive “behavioral validation analysis” of the Global Preference Survey Module (GPS) and the corresponding Preference Survey Module (PSM) developed by Falk et al. (2018, 2023) that have been widely used for the measurement and analysis of economic preferences on a global scale. Our key questions are how well GPS and PSM modules explain behavior in incentivized choice experiments in other countries than in the original validation in Germany, and to what extent survey items and modules developed from behavioral experiments in different countries and cultures resemble one another. Our current results, which are based on experiments in three very diverse countries—China, Iran, and Kenya—show that many GPS and PSM survey items predict behavior in incentivized choice experiments, but coefficients vary and are not always sizable. Quantitative items, which are based on hypothetical choice experiments, are consistently selected into survey modules, whereas the best qualitative items differ between countries. At the same time, the contribution in terms of explanatory power of these latter items is comparably lower. Our analysis provides a first empirical basis for the development of survey modules that reliably predict behavior in incentivized choice experiments and real-life situations across diverse countries and contexts. Additional results, including principal component analysis and prediction of real-life behavior, highlight important gaps that warrant further investigation in future research. |
| Keywords: | economic preference, measurement, survey, experiment |
| JEL: | C83 C91 D01 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11631 |
| By: | Darrell Norman Burrell (University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, MD, USA; Marymount University, USA) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the convergence of cyberpsychology and criminal psychology in whaling attacks at XXO University, where faculty received phishing emails impersonating senior leaders to solicit sensitive information. Unlike general phishing, whaling attacks are tailored to exploit authority bias and organizational trust, targeting specific high-ranking individuals to access confidential data. The inquiry highlights how psychological manipulation underpins these attacks, using techniques that circumvent technical safeguards by leveraging human behavior and cognitive biases. With spear phishing responsible for 95% of successful network breaches and 65% of targeted attacks, these tactics underscore a critical gap in traditional cybersecurity measures that focus solely on technical defenses without addressing psychological vulnerabilities (Reed 2022; Avery 2023). The investigation further reveals the escalating costs and operational risks posed by these attacks, as companies face over 700 social engineering attempts annually, averaging $14.8 million in losses for larger organizations (Reed 2022). Whaling and spear phishing is especially potent within hierarchical structures like universities, where authority compliance is ingrained. This study underscores the need for a cybersecurity framework that integrates behavioral insights, aiming to develop organizational resilience against social engineering by addressing both cognitive and technical vulnerabilities. |
| Keywords: | Whale Phishing, Spear Phishing, cyberpsychology, criminal psychology, Authority-Obedience Theory, Social Engineering, Compliance Theory, Shattered Assumption Theory |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0465 |
| By: | Fabian Herweg; Daniel Müller; Asri Özgümüs; Fabio Römeis |
| Abstract: | We present a theory of context-dependent risk preferences under which within-state payoff comparisons and regret aversion shape decisions. Defining the attraction and compromise effect in reference to a state-space-based description of the choice problem, we show that our theory can account for both these prominent decoy effects. We test our theoretical predictions with an online experiment, including comparative statics results. We find strong evidence for the attraction and the compromise effect. Furthermore, we find some supportive evidence for our comparative static predictions and weakly diminishing sensitivity regarding ex-post regret. |
| Keywords: | asymmetric dominance effect, attraction effect, compromise effect, context-dependent preferences, correlation-sensitive preferences, decoy effect, regret theory |
| JEL: | C91 D01 D81 D91 M31 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11611 |
| By: | Nigus, Halefom; Nillesen, Eleonora (RS: GSBE UM-BIC, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, RS: GSBE MGSoG); Mohnen, Pierre (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, QE Econometrics) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effect of exposure to markets on farm households' agricultural investment decisions. We assess whether and how market experience affects farmers' adoption of risky but profitable technologies and explore the role of plausible demand-side barriers therein. Specifically, we hypothesize that risk preferences and locus of control change with market experience and as such may explain the relationship between market experience and investment decisions. We use surveys and incentivized experimental data, collected from the Tigray regional state of Ethiopia and use an Endogenous Switching Probit and IV-Probit models to attenuate endogeneity issues. Our findings suggest, first, that market exposure induces farmers to adopt agricultural technologies, such as chemical fertilizer, improved seeds, manure, and row planting and second, that market experience attenuates risk aversion and, although less robustly so, leads to a more internal locus of control. Policies to in crease farmers' investments may thus not be confined to providing access to technologies and information but should perhaps be complemented with interventions that attend to lowering psychological barriers. |
| JEL: | C93 G22 H41 O17 |
| Date: | 2023–08–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2023028 |