On the interpretation of giving, taking and destruction in dictator games and joy-of-destruction games

The literature on dictator [D] and joy-of-destruction [JoD] games demonstrates that people can be nice and nasty. We study, by way of an experiment with between-subjects and within-subjects features, to what extent behaviors are context dependent and consistent. We find that, for one-shot D and JoD...

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Main Authors: Zhang, Lyla, Ortmann, A.
Format: Working Paper
Published: University of New South Wales 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/62388
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author Zhang, Lyla
Ortmann, A.
author_facet Zhang, Lyla
Ortmann, A.
author_sort Zhang, Lyla
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The literature on dictator [D] and joy-of-destruction [JoD] games demonstrates that people can be nice and nasty. We study, by way of an experiment with between-subjects and within-subjects features, to what extent behaviors are context dependent and consistent. We find that, for one-shot D and JoD games, our participants' niceness and nastiness depend on the choice set. Contradicting the observed altruism and nastiness, participants tend to be selfish but nonetheless make choices that increase social welfare when given the opportunity.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
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publishDate 2013
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-623882018-02-01T05:23:23Z On the interpretation of giving, taking and destruction in dictator games and joy-of-destruction games Zhang, Lyla Ortmann, A. Mach-IV test Dictator game Altruism Joy-of-Destruction game Nastiness Efficiency considerations The literature on dictator [D] and joy-of-destruction [JoD] games demonstrates that people can be nice and nasty. We study, by way of an experiment with between-subjects and within-subjects features, to what extent behaviors are context dependent and consistent. We find that, for one-shot D and JoD games, our participants' niceness and nastiness depend on the choice set. Contradicting the observed altruism and nastiness, participants tend to be selfish but nonetheless make choices that increase social welfare when given the opportunity. 2013 Working Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/62388 University of New South Wales restricted
spellingShingle Mach-IV test
Dictator game
Altruism
Joy-of-Destruction game
Nastiness
Efficiency considerations
Zhang, Lyla
Ortmann, A.
On the interpretation of giving, taking and destruction in dictator games and joy-of-destruction games
title On the interpretation of giving, taking and destruction in dictator games and joy-of-destruction games
title_full On the interpretation of giving, taking and destruction in dictator games and joy-of-destruction games
title_fullStr On the interpretation of giving, taking and destruction in dictator games and joy-of-destruction games
title_full_unstemmed On the interpretation of giving, taking and destruction in dictator games and joy-of-destruction games
title_short On the interpretation of giving, taking and destruction in dictator games and joy-of-destruction games
title_sort on the interpretation of giving, taking and destruction in dictator games and joy-of-destruction games
topic Mach-IV test
Dictator game
Altruism
Joy-of-Destruction game
Nastiness
Efficiency considerations
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/62388