Fig-leafing and self-serving behavior - CONTROL 1

Last registered on November 10, 2025

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Fig-leafing and self-serving behavior - CONTROL 1

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0017058

Initial registration date

November 03, 2025

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

November 10, 2025, 11:37 AM EST

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name

Gari Walkowitz

Affiliation

TU Freiberg

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Arno Apffelstaedt

PI Affiliation

University of Cologne

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PI Name

Bernd Irlenbusch

PI Affiliation

University of Cologne

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PI Name

Jan-Erik Lönnqvist

PI Affiliation

University of Helsinki

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Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2025-11-10

End date

2026-12-31

Keywords

Behavior, Lab

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.

Abstract

We are collecting data for an additional treatment condition, NoCoin-CONTROL, to complement data collected earlier as part of our preregistered study on “figleafing and self-serving behavior” (AEARCTR-0015543). This new condition is added to assess the robustness of the original design.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Apffelstaedt, Arno et al. 2025. "Fig-leafing and self-serving behavior - CONTROL 1." AEA RCT Registry. November 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17058-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

All participants in this data collection will be assigned to a single condition: NoCoin-CONTROL. This condition is identical to the original NoCoin condition, except that we remove a brief screen that mentioned flipping a coin as a way to assign the tasks.

Intervention Start Date

2025-11-10

Intervention End Date

2025-11-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

There is one primary outcome variable: (1) Implemented outcome (prosocial or self-serving). Definition and coding follow the original preregistration (AEARCTR-0015543).

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

This is an additional data collection conducted online via Prolific, complementing our original preregistered study (AEARCTR-0015543).
Participants (UK adults) are matched into pairs consisting of a decision maker and a passive receiver. The decision-maker chooses between two outcomes, where one (the self-serving outcome) yields a benefit for the decision-maker at the cost of the receiver, relative to the other (prosocial) outcome.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

All participants in this data collection are assigned to the NoCoin-CONTROL condition. Comparisons across conditions will be made using data collected in a previously preregistered experiment with randomized treatment assignment (AEARCTR-0015543).

Randomization Unit

Individuals.

Was the treatment clustered?