Loss Aversion in Social Image Concerns

Last registered on September 12, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Loss Aversion in Social Image Concerns
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003422
Initial registration date
October 15, 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
October 24, 2018, 4:19 PM EDT

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

Last updated
September 12, 2023, 6:24 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Potsdam

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics
PI Affiliation
Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2018-10-30
End date
2018-12-15
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Loss aversion is widely studied in the monetary domain as well as with respect to material goods. However, little is known about its relevance in the non-material domain. We plan to conduct a laboratory experiment to explore whether the concept of loss aversion applies to social image concerns, a non-material good. Social image concerns are important in an individual decision-making since people typically care about their reputation. We plan to analyze whether an exogenous improvement or harm to one's reputation follows the same pattern as gaining and losing money or material goods. Our experimental design attempts to quantify the effect of loss aversion in social image concerns via the scope of lying.

Registration Citation

Citation
Riener, Gerhard, Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch and Vasilisa Werner. 2023. "Loss Aversion in Social Image Concerns." AEA RCT Registry. September 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3422-6.0
Former Citation
Riener, Gerhard, Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch and Vasilisa Werner. 2023. "Loss Aversion in Social Image Concerns." AEA RCT Registry. September 12. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3422/history/192399
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2018-10-30
Intervention End Date
2018-12-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Key outcomes are whether the individuals lie and to which extent, i.e. average reported dice rolls for reference group and oneself by treatment (HardEasy versus EasyHard). Another crucial outcome is Rank 1. It indicates the reference point of each subject.

We investigate how HardEasy and EasyHard subjects differ in the reported dice difference conditional and unconditional on their reference points. We propose several specifications where we also include measures of subjects' risk aversion, loss aversion, social image concerns as well as various sociodemographic characteristics and their interactions with the main treatment variables.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our design encompasses two treatments (HardEasy and EasyHard). In both treatments, subjects work on Raven's Progressive Matrices which are commonly used to measure fluid intelligence. We split the matrices in two parts such that one part is easier (Easy) and another one is harder (Hard). Matrices in part Easy and part Hard do not repeat or overlap. All participants receive a show-up fee, but no additional payment for correct answers on the matrices.

Subjects are randomly assigned to one of the two treatments or the role of being Observer (2 subjects per session, one female and one male). In treatment HardEasy, subjects work on the Hard part in Stage 1 and the Easy part in Stage 2. In treatment EasyHard, subjects complete the two parts in the reverse order, i.e. they first work on the Easy part and then the Hard one. Stage 1 establishes a within-subject reference point with respect to performance on the matrices. Since subjects know that their answers on the matrices reflect a measure of their IQ, their performance feedback (rank) is expected to be image relevant. We calculate a subject's rank as a percentile compared to a predetermined reference group (university students who answered the same matrices in a previous experiment). In both treatments, subjects solve Part 1, observe their Rank 1 and report it privately to the two observers (who can verify the report). In Stage 2, participants do Part 2 of the quiz. For subjects in treatment EasyHard, Part 2 is more complicated than Part 1. Thus, we expect them to perform worse on average than in Part 1, such that on average their rank decreases. For subjects in treatment HardEasy, on the contrary, the average rank increases compared to Rank 1. Construction of Rank 2 is based on exactly the same matrices (part Hard and Easy) for all subjects, so we do not expect any absolute difference between Ranks 2 in treatments HardEasy and EasyHard. After Part 2 is completed, the own Ranks 1 and 2 are displayed privately to each subject, so that subjects see whether they performed better or worse than in Part 1. The only expected difference is their reference points, i.e. Rank 1. Then we suggest subjects to throw a dice twice privately and report the numbers they got. The first reported number is added to the number of correctly solved matrices of each person in the reference group, the second reported number to their own number of correctly solved matrices (a scope for lying). Observers know about the existence of a further task in Stage 2, but not the exact nature of the dice rolls. Once the reported dice rolls are added and the Overall Rank is updated, participants go to Observers again and report their final ranks privately.

We test the following hypothesis: subjects in treatment EasyHard (who on average experience a loss in social image due to a worse Rank 2 than Rank 1) lie more than subjects in treatment HardEasy (who on average experience a gain in social image). The two treatments (HardEasy and EasyHard) differ only in the average reference points (Rank 1). Key outcomes are whether the individuals lie and to which extent, i.e. the average reported dice rolls for the reference group and oneself by treatment (HardEasy versus EasyHard). We investigate whether HardEasy and EasyHard subjects differ in the reported dice roll difference, conditional and unconditional on their individual reference points. In particular, we compare the average reported difference in dice roll reports (average reported number to be added to own performance minus average reported number to be added to reference group's performance) from treatments HardEasy and EasyHard. If this difference is significantly higher in treatment EasyHard than in treatment HardEasy, this provides evidence for loss aversion in social image concerns because it implies that subjects who risk losing social image are ready to lie more than those with social image gains. In several specifications, we additionally control for measures of subjects' risk aversion, loss aversion, social image concerns as well as various sociodemographic characteristics and their interactions with the main treatment variables.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in the experimental laboratory by letting participants draw a cabin number (which assigns them randomly to either treatment HardEasy or EasyHard, or the role of Observer).
Randomization Unit
Each participant of the laboratory experiment is considered as one independent observation
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No clusters
Sample size: planned number of observations
We have collected 166 observations for HardEasy and EasyHard treatments (6 laboratory sessions with 28 subjects each on average, 6x2 Observers are not part of the treatment conditions). We plan to collect approximately 168 more observations for HardEasy and EasyHard treatments (6 laboratory sessions with 30 subjects each on average, 6x2 Observers are not part of the treatment conditions) in order to test an additional hypothesis of loss aversion in social image concerns conditional on one's reference point.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We aim at a balanced design in which about 50% of observations are assigned to treatment EasyHard and about 50% to treatment HardEasy.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
We define the key variable DiceDiff = DiceSubject – DiceSample, where DiceSubject is a reported dice roll for oneself (on a scale of 1 to 6), DiceSample is a reported dice roll for the reference group (on a scale of 1 to 6), and DiceDiff is a reported dice roll difference (on a scale -5 to 5, larger differences are more favorable for a subject). We then regress DiceDiff on the treatment dummy as well as on the interaction term of the treatment dummy with Rank 1 (reference point) in order to investigate whether HardEasy and EasyHard subjects differ in the reported dice roll difference, conditional and unconditional on their individual reference points. According to power analyses based on the data collected so far (6 session conducted on 20.11.18-28.11.18, 166 obs), we will be able to detect an significant effect using a linear regression slope test, with 77 observations per treatment (144 total) with a power of 80%.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Yes
Program Files URL
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
Does loss aversion apply to social image concerns? In a laboratory experiment, we first induce social image in a relevant domain, intelligence, through public ranking. In a second stage, subjects experience a change in rank and are offered scope for lying to improve their final, also publicly reported rank. Subjects who care about social image and experience a decline in rank lie more than those experiencing gains. Moreover, we document a discontinuity in lying behavior when moving from rank losses to gains. Our results are in line with loss aversion in social image concerns.
Citation
Petrishcheva, Vasilisa, Gerhard Riener, and Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch. "Loss aversion in social image concerns." Experimental Economics 26.3 (2023): 622-645.

Reports & Other Materials