Personality and Coordination

Last registered on May 30, 2018
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Personality and Coordination
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002975
Initial registration date
May 29, 2018

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
May 30, 2018, 9:59 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Daniel Sgroi
Affiliation
University of Warwick
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Mahnaz Nazneen
PI Affiliation
University fo Warwick
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2018-06-11
End date
2018-12-31
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
personality traits (own and others), theory of mind, empathy, decision-making, beliefs, perception, coordination, stage hunt game, risk dominance, payoff dominance, communication, text-analysis, eyes test, Ravens progressive matrices, Big Five Personality Inventory
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The project aims to use experimental evidence to investigate the relationship between personality type, beliefs about others’ type (sometimes called “theory of mind”), similarity and performance in a coordination game. Other tasks include demographic questionnaires, IQ tests, measures of risk and other psychometric tests.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Nazneen, Mahnaz and Daniel Sgroi. 2018. "Personality and Coordination." AEA RCT Registry. May 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2975-1.0
Former Citation
Nazneen, Mahnaz and Daniel Sgroi. 2018. "Personality and Coordination." AEA RCT Registry. May 30. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2975/history/30169
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Subjects are paired up and asked to make decisions in a one-shot coordination game, where, depending on the treatment, they may or may not get to communicate with their partner.
Intervention Start Date
2018-06-11
Intervention End Date
2018-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The experimental data will allow us to check if personality type (and cognitive ability) and beliefs about partner's personality type (and their cognitive ability) correlate with decision-making in the Stage Hunt coordination game, as well as whether similarity between own and partner's personality and cognitive ability matter.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Own personality will be based on scores in the Big Five personality test, belief about partner's personality will be based on (incentivized) questions about how others performed in the personality test, cognitive ability will be measures by a ravens progressive matrices test, beliefs about others cognitive ability will be based on (incentivized) questions about others performance in the Raven's test. Similarity will be measured by comparing beliefs about partners to beliefs about own performance (in the Raven's test) or actual answers to the Big Five personality test.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
We will also measure risk, gender, mood, empathy and will attempt to derive further measures of personality and mood from text (taken from the descritpions written prior to the game).
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Variables constructed from text will include measures such as inward-orientation, valence, concreteness, arousal, dominance and specific word categories. Mood will be taken from a Likert scale included in the final questionnaire, and risk will be take from a Dospert questionnaire.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The basic design involves asking subjects to take psycho-metric and personality tests. Depending upon the treatment they may then communicate with each other and are asked to report beliefs about their partners before playing a coordination game and undertaking a final questionnaire.
Experimental Design Details
The design involves asking subjects to take the Big 5 personality test and a short Raven’s Progressive Matrices test for cognitive ability. Subjects are paired with another subject and then (depending upon the treatment) there may be the opportunity for them to communicate via short text messages or not. Subjects are then asked to guess the personality type and other characteristics of their partners (such as their cognitive ability). A coordination game is described. Subjects are asked to guess the likely strategy of their partner in these games and then proceed to play the game with their partners. This is followed by tests for empathy (for instance, they are shown pictures of eyes and asked whether these reveal particular moods (Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y. & Plumb, I., 2001). The sessions end with a test of risk preferences and some basic demographic questions (including life satisfaction/mood and gender).
Randomization Method
Randomization by computer
Randomization Unit
Randomization is at the level of the experimental session
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No clustering
Sample size: planned number of observations
300-400 subjects
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
150-200 with communication, 150-200 without communication
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Warwick Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2018-05-29
IRB Approval Number
111/17-18
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials