Replication of beauty, gender and stereotypes: Evidence from laboratory experiments

Last registered on November 07, 2018
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Replication of beauty, gender and stereotypes: Evidence from laboratory experiments
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003483
Initial registration date
November 04, 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
November 05, 2018, 8:18 PM EST

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

Last updated
November 07, 2018, 4:47 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
Texas

Primary Investigator

Name
Unnati Narang
Affiliation
TAMU
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Catherine Eckel
PI Affiliation
TAMU
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PI Name
Ying Wang
PI Affiliation
TAMU
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PI Name
Ruixin Jia
PI Affiliation
TAMU
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2018-11-12
End date
2018-12-04
Keywords
Gender, Other
Additional Keywords
public goods, beauty, stereotypes, replication
JEL code(s)
C92; J16
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The study is a replication of an existing paper: "Beauty, gender and stereotypes: Evidence from laboratory experiments". The purpose of the study is to examine the role of beauty and gender stereotypes in contributing to public goods using a lab experiment where subjects make repeated decisions on investments. Thus, we ask, do people contribute more based on how attractive they are? Do men and women contribute differently? Do people expect attractive people to contribute more, and hence get disappointed and attach a beauty penalty to them? Our research replicates the original study that examined these and similar questions. The study will take place at Texas A&M University with undergrad students in a lab. We will ask subjects to make a series of decisions on a computer.
External Link(s)
Original paper

Registration Citation

Citation
Eckel, Catherine et al. 2018. "Replication of beauty, gender and stereotypes: Evidence from laboratory experiments." AEA RCT Registry. November 07. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3483-2.0
Former Citation
Eckel, Catherine et al. 2018. "Replication of beauty, gender and stereotypes: Evidence from laboratory experiments." AEA RCT Registry. November 07. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3483/history/36925
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We will be replicating a published paper: Andreoni, James, and Ragan Petrie (2008), “Beauty, gender and stereotypes: Evidence from laboratory experiments,” Journal of Economic Psychology, 29 (1): 73-93.

The central idea of the paper is to examine the role of beauty, gender and stereotypes in public goods contribution. Thus, we will examine if people follow beauty stereotypes when making decisions. We will have two treatments: Information and no information. In the information condition, subjects’ photos along with their individual contributions are shown while in the no-information condition, only the photos are shown without the contribution.
Intervention Start Date
2018-11-12
Intervention End Date
2018-11-19

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Contribution to public goods
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The design is similar to the original paper, as explained below (using authors' original text):

Our experiments use a public goods contribution setting. Subjects make their decisions on a computer. In the pilot, we plan to have 4 sessions. Each session has 15 subjects, and they are randomly divided into 3 groups of 5 subjects. In each round a subject is endowed with 20 tokens that could be invested in a private good or a public good. The private good pays $0.02 per token invested by the individual, and the public good pays $0.01 per token invested by the entire group. Each subject earns pay-off based on his investment in the private good and the total group investment in the public good. Subjects play with the same group of 5 people for 8 rounds, then are randomly re-matched to new groups for another 8 rounds, until they play with five different groups, each for 8 rounds. So, subjects play 40 rounds in total in each session.

A digital passport-style photograph is taken of each subject at the beginning of the experimental session. The photo is from the shoulders up and is displayed on top of the screen while subjects make decisions. At the end of each round, the total amount contributed to the public good by all group members is reported. There are two treatments: No Information and Information. In the Information treatment, both the photo and the contribution of that group member from the previous round are displayed. The contribution is listed below each photo, and the photos are rearranged each round with the highest contributor on the left and the lowest on the right. In the No Information treatment, only the photos of each group member are displayed on the screen and no information on individual actions is given.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
On a computer using ztree
Randomization Unit
Individuals
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
200 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
8000 individual-rounds
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
100-100 in each group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Texas A&M University Institutional Review Board (IRB)
IRB Approval Date
2018-11-07
IRB Approval Number
IRB2018-1442D
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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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