Hostname: page-component-669899f699-7tmb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-24T18:27:27.175Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social communication and discrimination: a video experiment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Ben Greiner ,
Werner Güth  and
Ro’i Zultan
Ben Greiner
Affiliation:
School of Economics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Werner Güth
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena, Germany
Ro’i Zultan*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
*
zultan@bgu.ac.il
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We report on an experiment using video technology to study effects of communication on donations to and discrimination between potential receivers. The experimental design eliminates strategic factors by allowing two receivers to unilaterally communicate with an anonymous dictator before the latter decides on her gifts. Through the use of three communication setups (none, audio, and audio-visual) we analyze purely social effects of communication. A silent video channel leads to discrimination between potential receivers based on impression formation, but does not affect average levels of donations. When the auditory channel is added, average donations increase. The social processes invoked by the visual and audio channels are heterogeneous and communicator-specific but not unsystematic.

Keywords

BargainingCommunicationDiscriminationn-Person dictator gameVideo experiment

JEL classification

D64: Altruism • Philanthropy • Intergenerational Transfers C91: Laboratory, Individual Behavior C72: Noncooperative Games
Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , September 2012 , pp. 398 - 417
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 Economic Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

Electronic Supplementary Material The online version of this article (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-011-9305-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

An earlier version of this paper had the title “Let the Dummy Talk! Unilateral Communication and Discrimination in Three-Person Dictator Experiments”. We thank two anonymous reviewers for constructive helpful advice inspiring major revisions, and seminar participants at Jena, Jerusalem, Erfurt, Berlin, Würzburg, and Mannheim for helpful discussions. Financial support from the Max Planck Society is gratefully acknowledged.

References

Ambady, N., Bernieri, F., & Richeson, J. (2000). Toward a histology of social behavior: judgmental accuracy from thin slices of the behavioral stream. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 32, 201–271. 10.1016/S0065-2601(00)80006-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ambady, N., & Rosenthal, R. (1992). Thin slices of expressive behavior as predictors of interpersonal consequences: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 111(2), 256–274. 10.1037/0033-2909.111.2.256CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ambady, N., & Rosenthal, R. (1993). Half a minute: predicting teacher evaluations from thin slices of nonverbal behavior and physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 431 10.1037/0022-3514.64.3.431CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asch, S. A. (1946). Forming impressions of personality. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 41, 258–290. 10.1037/h0055756CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Austen-Smith, D., & Banks, J. (2000). Cheap talk and burned money. Journal of Economic Theory, 91(1), 1–16. 10.1006/jeth.1999.2591CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babad, E., Avni-Babad, D., & Rosenthal, R. (2004). Prediction of students’ evaluations from brief instances of professors’ nonverbal behavior in defined instructional situations. Social Psychology of Education, 7(1), 3–33. 10.1023/B:SPOE.0000010672.97522.c5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babcock, L., & Loewenstein, G. (1997). Explaining bargaining impasse: the role of self-serving biases. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11(1), 109–126. 10.1257/jep.11.1.109CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babcock, L., Loewenstein, G., Issacharoff, S., & Camerer, C. (1995). Biased judgments of fairness in bargaining. American Economic Review, 85(5), 1337–1343.Google Scholar
Battigalli, P., & Dufwenberg, M. (2007). Guilt in games. The American Economic Review, 170–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benjamin, D., & Shapiro, J. (2009). Thin-slice forecasts of gubernatorial elections. Review of Economics and Statistics, 91(3), 523–536. 10.1162/rest.91.3.523CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bohnet, I., & Frey, B. (1999). The sound of silence in prisoner’s dilemma and dictator games. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 38, 43–57. 10.1016/S0167-2681(98)00121-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosman, R., Hennig-Schmidt, H., & van Winden, F. (2006). Exploring group decision making in a power-to-take experiment. Experimental Economics, 9, 35–51. 10.1007/s10683-006-4310-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brosig, J., Ockenfels, A., & Weimann, J. (2003). The effect of communication media on cooperation. German Economic Review, 4, 217–241. 10.1111/1468-0475.00080CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Büchner, S., Coricelli, G., & Greiner, B. (2007). Self centered and other regarding behavior in the solidarity game. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 62, 293–303. 10.1016/j.jebo.2004.12.006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chakravarty, S., & Fonseca, M. A. (2010). Social identity, group composition and public good provision: an experimental study. Mimeo.Google Scholar
Charness, G., & Dufwenberg, M. (2006). Promises and partnership. Econometrica, 74(6), 1579–1601. 10.1111/j.1468-0262.2006.00719.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charness, G., & Dufwenberg, M. (2011). Participation. American Economic Review, 101(4), 1211–1237. 10.1257/aer.101.4.1211CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charness, G., & Gneezy, U. (2008). What’s in a name? Anonymity and social distance in dictator and ultimatum games. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 68(1), 29–35. 10.1016/j.jebo.2008.03.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Y., & Li, S. (2009). Group identity and social preferences. American Economic Review, 99(1), 431–457. 10.1257/aer.99.1.431CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, V., & Sobel, J. (1982). Strategic information transmission. Econometrica, 50(6), 1431–1451. 10.2307/1913390CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawes, R. M., & Coughlin, R. M. (1990). Social dilemmas, economic self-interest, and evolutionary theory. Morality, rationality, and efficiency, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Armonk 17–40.Google Scholar
Eckel, C., & Grossman, P. (2005). Managing diversity by creating team identity. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 58(3), 371–392. 10.1016/j.jebo.2004.01.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellingsen, T., Johannesson, M., Tjøtta, S., & Torsvik, G. (2010). Testing guilt aversion. Games and Economic Behavior, 68(1), 95–107. 10.1016/j.geb.2009.04.021CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frohlich, N., & Oppenheimer, J. (1998). Some consequences of e-mail vs. face-to-face communication in experiment. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 35, 38–403. 10.1016/S0167-2681(98)00044-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gächter, S., & Riedl, A. (2005). Moral property rights in bargaining with infeasible claims. Management Science, 51(2), 249–263. 10.1287/mnsc.1040.0311CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greiner, B. Kremer, K., & Macho, V. (2004). An online recruitment system for economic experiments. Forschung und wissenschaftliches Rechnen 2003. GWDG Bericht 63, Göttingen: Ges. für Wiss. Datenverarbeitung 79–93.Google Scholar
Jenni, K., & Loewenstein, G. (1997). Explaining the identifiable victim effect. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 14(3), 235–257. 10.1023/A:1007740225484CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelley, H. (1950). The warm-cold variable in first impressions of persons. Journal of Personality, 18(4), 431–439. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1950.tb01260.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kogut, T., & Ritov, I. (2005). The singularity effect of identified victims in separate and joint evaluations. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 106–116. 10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.02.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konow, J. (2000). Fair shares: accountability and cognitive dissonance in allocation decisions. American Economic Review, 90(4), 1072–1091. 10.1257/aer.90.4.1072CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krupka, E., & Weber, R. (2009). The focusing and informational effects of norms on pro-social behavior. Journal of Economic Psychology, 30(3), 307–320. 10.1016/j.joep.2008.11.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loewenstein, G., Issacharoff, S., Camerer, C., & Babcock, L. (1993). Self-serving assessments of fairness and pretrial bargaining. The Journal of Legal Studies, 22, 135 10.1086/468160CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGraw, K., & Wong, S. (1996). Forming inferences about some intraclass correlation coefficients. Psychological Methods, 1(1), 30–46. 10.1037/1082-989X.1.1.30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mintz, J., & Luborsky, L. (1971). Segments versus whole sessions: which is the better unit for psychotherapy process research?. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 78(2), 180–191. 10.1037/h0031969CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nisbett, R., & Wilson, T. (1977). The halo effect: evidence for unconscious alteration of judgments. Journal of Feisonality and Social Psychology, 35(4), 250–256. 10.1037/0022-3514.35.4.250CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oltmanns, T., Friedman, J., Fiedler, E., & Turkheimer, E. (2004). Perceptions of people with personality disorders based on thin slices of behavior. Journal of Research in Personality, 38(3), 216–229. 10.1016/S0092-6566(03)00066-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., & Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957). The measurement of meaning, Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Roth, A. E. Kagel, J. H., & Roth, A. E. (1995). Bargaining experiments. The handbook of experimental economics, Princeton: Princeton University Press 253–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schelling, T. C., & Chase, S. B. (1968). The life you save may be your own. Problems in public expenditure analysis, Washington: The Brookings Institute 127–162.Google Scholar
Schmidt, C., & Zultan, R. (2005). The uncontrolled social utility hypothesis revisited. Economics Bulletin, 3(33), 1–7.Google Scholar
Selten, R., & Ockenfels, A. (1998). An experimental solidarity game. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 34, 517–539. 10.1016/S0167-2681(97)00107-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Small, D., & Loewenstein, G. (2003). Helping a victim or helping the victim: Altruism and identifiability. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 26(1), 5–16. 10.1023/A:1022299422219CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vanberg, C. (2008). Why do people keep their promises? An experimental test of two explanations. Econometrica, 76(6), 1467–1480. 10.3982/ECTA7673Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Greiner et al. supplementary material

Online Appendix for Social Communication and Discrimination: A Video Experiment
Download Greiner et al. supplementary material(File)
File 82.4 KB