Leaving it to Chance: The Effect of a Coin Flip on Happiness and Guilt in Other-Regarding Decisions

Last registered on May 10, 2018
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Leaving it to Chance: The Effect of a Coin Flip on Happiness and Guilt in Other-Regarding Decisions
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002971
Initial registration date
May 08, 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 10, 2018, 2:26 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Sandra Goff
Affiliation
Bates College
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2018-05-09
End date
2019-05-04
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
external decision devices; moral balancing; guilt; dictator game
JEL code(s)
C70, C91, D91
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Research on repeated choosing and choice complexity has demonstrated that decision-making by individuals uses up scarce psychological resources and can affect both decision outcome and an individual’s satisfaction with their choice. Given this, people will sometimes avoid deciding, opting instead to use an external device such as a coin flip (Dwenger 2014). Levitt (2016) argues that when people are facing big life decisions and find themselves at an impasse, letting a coin decide can increase happiness. We assert that responsibility aversion plays a role in this outcome and design an experiment to assess this effect of the use of external decision devices. Participants engage in a dictator game with a “take” framing with two potential choices for the dictator: (1) take $7 from the other player’s endowment, leaving the partner with only $3, or (2) take $3, leaving the other player with $7. We hypothesize that those who are directed by a coin flip to take $7 will score lower on a measure of negative affect and higher on a measure of positive affect than those who made the same decision of their own accord. We also assert that positive self-assessment will be greater in the coin flip condition and that this will free these participants from the need to engage in subsequent moral cleansing. Finally, we test to determine whether people are willing to pay a non-zero amount to transfer the decision-making power to the coin flip in anticipation of the avoidance of guilt feelings.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Goff, Sandra. 2018. "Leaving it to Chance: The Effect of a Coin Flip on Happiness and Guilt in Other-Regarding Decisions." AEA RCT Registry. May 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2971-1.0
Former Citation
Goff, Sandra. 2018. "Leaving it to Chance: The Effect of a Coin Flip on Happiness and Guilt in Other-Regarding Decisions." AEA RCT Registry. May 10. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2971/history/29347
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2018-05-09
Intervention End Date
2018-05-18

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
PANAS (Both positive and negative affect), Moral identity (Aquino & Reed, 2002), pro-social behaviors (donation, volunteer, consumption)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study is designed as an online between-subjects experiment. Participants are randomly assigned to one of three treatments: (1) free choice (no coin flip), (2) free coin flip (virtual coin is flipped on their behalf, but they are not restricted by the result of the flip), and (3) pay-to-flip (subject can choose to flip a virtual coin for a $1 fee, but they are not restricted by the result of the flip).
Each participant performs three tasks, a Dictator Game task, an Ultimatum Game task, and a Survey task. These three tasks are followed by a set of demographic questions. Participants are informed that they will be paid for only one of the tasks, that the task for which they will be paid will be selected at random, and that the average task payoff is $5. Participants are also paid a $2 completion fee. The treatment to which a participant is randomly assigned affects only the Dictator Game task as described below in the Task Descriptions section.
The Dictator Game task is the target task. The Ultimatum Game task is used as a comparison and to assess participant’s attitudes towards norms of fairness. The survey task is unrelated to the current study. Rather, this task is included because the Dictator Game and Ultimatum Game tasks are short and the compensation participants receive is substantial given the time needed to complete the work. This provides a great opportunity to collect preliminary data on a subject of interest to the PI, political consumerism. The order in which participants receive the Dictator Game and Ultimatum Game are randomized. The survey is always received as the third task to ensure that the questions do not interfere with the target task.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization is performed automatically by the survey software.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
452 participants
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
176 free-flip, 176 no flip, 100 pay-to-flip
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Skidmore IRB
IRB Approval Date
2018-05-04
IRB Approval Number
1805-724
Analysis Plan

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

Request Information

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