Complicity without connection or communication

We use a novel laboratory experiment involving a die rolling task embedded within a coordination game to investigate whether complicity can emerge when decision-making is simultaneous, the potential accomplices are strangers and neither communication nor signaling is possible. Then, by comparing the...

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Main Authors: Barr, Abigail, Michailidou, Georgia
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46092/
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author Barr, Abigail
Michailidou, Georgia
author_facet Barr, Abigail
Michailidou, Georgia
author_sort Barr, Abigail
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description We use a novel laboratory experiment involving a die rolling task embedded within a coordination game to investigate whether complicity can emerge when decision-making is simultaneous, the potential accomplices are strangers and neither communication nor signaling is possible. Then, by comparing the behavior observed in this original game to that in a variant in which die-roll reporting players are paired with passive players instead of other die-roll reporters, while everything else is held constant, we isolate the effect of having a potential accomplice on the likelihood of an individual acting immorally. We find that complicity can emerge between strangers in the absence of opportunities to communicate or signal and that having a potential accomplice increases the likelihood of an individual acting immorally.
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spelling nottingham-460922020-05-04T19:55:05Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46092/ Complicity without connection or communication Barr, Abigail Michailidou, Georgia We use a novel laboratory experiment involving a die rolling task embedded within a coordination game to investigate whether complicity can emerge when decision-making is simultaneous, the potential accomplices are strangers and neither communication nor signaling is possible. Then, by comparing the behavior observed in this original game to that in a variant in which die-roll reporting players are paired with passive players instead of other die-roll reporters, while everything else is held constant, we isolate the effect of having a potential accomplice on the likelihood of an individual acting immorally. We find that complicity can emerge between strangers in the absence of opportunities to communicate or signal and that having a potential accomplice increases the likelihood of an individual acting immorally. Elsevier 2017-10 Article PeerReviewed Barr, Abigail and Michailidou, Georgia (2017) Complicity without connection or communication. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 142 . pp. 1-10. ISSN 0167-2681 Complicity; Lying; Die under the cup task http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268117301919 doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2017.07.013 doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2017.07.013
spellingShingle Complicity; Lying; Die under the cup task
Barr, Abigail
Michailidou, Georgia
Complicity without connection or communication
title Complicity without connection or communication
title_full Complicity without connection or communication
title_fullStr Complicity without connection or communication
title_full_unstemmed Complicity without connection or communication
title_short Complicity without connection or communication
title_sort complicity without connection or communication
topic Complicity; Lying; Die under the cup task
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46092/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46092/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46092/