|
on Cognitive and Behavioural Economics |
|
Issue of 2025–11–17
three papers chosen by Marco Novarese, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Aaron S. Berman (California Institute of Technology); Saika Cer Askin (Chapman University, Economic Science Institute); Shapeng Jiang (Wuhan University); David Porter (Chapman University, Economic Science Institute); Jason Shachat (Chapman University, Economic Science Institute) |
| Abstract: | This study examines preference-based behavioral biases in social interactions between two distinct communities: students from Chapman University in the United States and Wuhan University in China. Using controlled experiments, participants interacted within or across communities in Dictator games. Two versions of the Dictator game were used: one where decisions were observable by both the experimenter and the recipient, and another where allocators could misreport outcomes with plausible deniability. Results revealed unexpected patterns, including similar allocation distributions across communities in the transparent task, and differing behaviors in the misreporting task, with Chapman allocators being more generous to out-group members and Wuhan allocators choosing more selfishly. The study challenges traditional theories of in-group favoritism and highlights the role of cultural differences and image concerns in decision-making. Findings contribute to understanding cross-cultural interactions, particularly in the context of increasing global connectivity. |
| Keywords: | In-group bias, Dictator game, Lying, Social image |
| JEL: | C92 D63 D91 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:25-12 |
| By: | Felipe Valencia-Clavijo |
| Abstract: | Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly examined as both behavioral subjects and decision systems, yet it remains unclear whether observed cognitive biases reflect surface imitation or deeper probability shifts. Anchoring bias, a classic human judgment bias, offers a critical test case. While prior work shows LLMs exhibit anchoring, most evidence relies on surface-level outputs, leaving internal mechanisms and attributional contributions unexplored. This paper advances the study of anchoring in LLMs through three contributions: (1) a log-probability-based behavioral analysis showing that anchors shift entire output distributions, with controls for training-data contamination; (2) exact Shapley-value attribution over structured prompt fields to quantify anchor influence on model log-probabilities; and (3) a unified Anchoring Bias Sensitivity Score integrating behavioral and attributional evidence across six open-source models. Results reveal robust anchoring effects in Gemma-2B, Phi-2, and Llama-2-7B, with attribution signaling that the anchors influence reweighting. Smaller models such as GPT-2, Falcon-RW-1B, and GPT-Neo-125M show variability, suggesting scale may modulate sensitivity. Attributional effects, however, vary across prompt designs, underscoring fragility in treating LLMs as human substitutes. The findings demonstrate that anchoring bias in LLMs is robust, measurable, and interpretable, while highlighting risks in applied domains. More broadly, the framework bridges behavioral science, LLM safety, and interpretability, offering a reproducible path for evaluating other cognitive biases in LLMs. |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2511.05766 |
| By: | Moustapha Sarr; Noémi Berlin; Tarek Jaber-Lopez |
| Abstract: | In a lab-in-the-field experiment, we investigate the influence of social norms on 300 parents’ beliefs regarding the nutritional quality of food items and their subsequent food choices. We use a 3 × 2 between-subject experimental design where we vary two factors: 1-the social norm provided to parents: a descriptive norm (what other parents choose) vs. an injunctive norm (what other parents approve of), and 2-the recipient of the food decisions made by parents: their own child vs. an unknown child. Parents participate in a two-stage process. In the first stage, we elicit their beliefs regarding the nutritional quality of various food items and ask them to make a food basket without specific information. In the second stage, based on their assigned treatment, they receive specific information and repeat the belief elicitation and the food basket selection tasks. We find that only the descriptive norm significantly reduces parents’ overestimation rate of items’ nutritional quality. Injunctive norm significantly improves the nutritional quality of both, the parent’s and child’s baskets. Descriptive norm significantly improves the nutritional quality of child’s baskets only when parents are choosing for unknown child. |
| Keywords: | social norms, information provision, food choices, food beliefs, parent, child |
| JEL: | C93 D12 D91 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2025-42 |