Prosocial signaling with a history

Last registered on July 12, 2022

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Prosocial signaling with a history

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0009689

Initial registration date

July 02, 2022

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

July 12, 2022, 1:53 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

Country

United States of America

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Tilman Fries

Affiliation

WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2022-07-04

End date

2023-08-31

Keywords

Behavior, Lab

Additional Keywords

Signaling

JEL code(s)

D83, C91

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Social media and internet search engines give easy access to information about others. This paper studies the behavioral consequences when individuals know more about others they interact with. In principle, increased knowledge limits the ability of decision makers to signal their type through their actions. Thus, if decision makers want to signal a socially desired type, increased knowledge in turn decreases the supply of socially desired behavior. There are however factors that might lead to "unlearning", such as a belief that people can change or that yesterday's news might be forgotten which can keep reputational incentives strong even as individuals learn more about each other's past. I test the behavioral effect of increased knowledge in an experiment and investigate which factors lead to unlearning.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Fries, Tilman. 2022. "Prosocial signaling with a history." AEA RCT Registry. July 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9689-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The experiment varies what an observer knows about a decision maker (DM) who is about to make a moral decision. Further interventions vary whether the observer's knowledge about the DM refers to a recent or a past decision of the DM and whether the observer receives information about the DM just before the DM decides or two weeks earlier.

Intervention Start Date

2022-07-04

Intervention End Date

2022-08-14

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Decision to revise a moral decision.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Revised donation WTP is larger than GBP15

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Please refer to the attached pdf for details on variable definitions

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Participants first state how much they are willing to pay for a donation. They then participate in a trust game. In the third stage, participants play a modified trust game where the second mover has the chance to signal their trustworthiness to the first mover by making a moral decision. The experiment exogenously varies what the first mover knows about the second mover's initial donation choice.

In the Baseline treatment, participants give answers to all three stages of the experiment on the same day (in one session)

Treatment A introduces a two week time delay between the donation stage and the two trust games. That is, there are two sessions: In session 1, participants only make the donation choice. In session 2, participants take part in the trust game and the modified trust game. Session 2 takes place two weeks after session 1.

Treatment B introduces a two week delay between the first and second trust game. That is, there are two sessions: in session 1, participants make the donation choice and participate in the trust game. In session 2, participants take part in the modified trust game. Session 2 takes place two weeks after session 1.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

Randomization will be implemented through the experimental software (otree). Participants click on a link to participate in the experiment and are then randomized into one of the three treatments.

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?