Frames and Games

Decision-makers are sometimes influenced by the way in which choice situations are presented to them or "framed." This can be seen as an important challenge to the social sciences, since strong and pervasive framing effects would make it difficult to study human behavior in a synthetic or theoretic manner. We present results from experiments with dilemma games designed to shed light on the effects of several frame variations. We study, among others, the particular public bad frame used by Andreoni (1995) and two more naturalistic frames involving stories. Our results show that none of the frame manipulations have a significant effect on average behavior, but we do find some effects on extreme behavior. We also find that incentives do matter where frames do not matter.

[1]  Schneider,et al.  All Frames Are Not Created Equal: A Typology and Critical Analysis of Framing Effects. , 1998, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[2]  Theo Offerman,et al.  Public good provision and public bad prevention: the effect of framing , 1998 .

[3]  Martin Dufwenberg,et al.  The Framing of Games and the Psychology of Strategic Choice , 2006 .

[4]  N. Kerr,et al.  “. . and besides, I probably couldn't have made a difference anyway”: Justification of Social Dilemma Defection via Perceived Self-Inefficacy , 1997 .

[5]  J. Andreoni.  Warm-Glow versus Cold-Prickle: The Effects of Positive and Negative Framing on Cooperation in Experiments , 1995 .

[6]  S. Komorita,et al.  Reciprocity and cooperation in social dilemmas: Review and future directions. , 1999 .

[7]  Roderick M. Kramer,et al.  Choice behavior in social dilemmas: Effects of social identity, group size, and decision framing. , 1986 .

[8]  Eun Soo Park,et al.  Warm-glow versus cold-prickle: a further experimental study of framing effects on free-riding , 2000 .

[9]  Jacob K. Goeree,et al.  Private costs and public benefits: unraveling the effects of altruism and noisy behavior , 2002 .

[10]  William A. Boettcher.  The Prospects for Prospect Theory: An Empirical Evaluation of International Relations Applications of Framing and Loss Aversion , 2004 .

[11]  Jordi Brandts,et al.  Cooperation and Noise in Public Goods Experiments: Applying the Contribution Function Approach , 1999 .

[12]  L. Ross,et al.  Naive realism in everyday life: Implications for social conflict and misunderstanding. , 1996 .

[13]  A. Tversky,et al.  The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice. , 1981, Science.

[14]  A. Kühberger,et al.  The Influence of Framing on Risky Decisions: A Meta-analysis. , 1998, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[15]  E. Fehr.  A Theory of Fairness, Competition and Cooperation , 1998 .

[16]  Todd McElroy,et al.  Framing effects: An analytic–holistic perspective ☆ , 2003 .

[17]  M. Rabin,et al.  UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL PREFERENCES WITH SIMPLE TESTS , 2001 .

[18]  Chun-Lei Yang,et al.  The Hot Versus Cold Effect in a Simple Bargaining Experiment , 2003 .

[19]  J. Brandts,et al.  Hot vs. Cold: Sequential Responses and Preference Stability in Experimental Games , 1998 .

[20]  S. Zeger,et al.  Longitudinal data analysis using generalized linear models , 1986 .

[21]  Donald Hedeker,et al.  Longitudinal Data Analysis , 2006 .

[22]  Gary E. Bolton,et al.  ERC: A Theory of Equity, Reciprocity, and Competition , 2000 .