Lab-Sophistication: Does Repeated Participation in Laboratory Experiments Affect Pro-Social Behaviour?

Authors

MEDDA Tiziana PELLIGRA Vittorio REGGIANI Tommaso

Year of publication 2021
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source GAMES
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Economics and Administration

Citation
Web https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/12/1/18
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/g12010018
Keywords lab-sophistication; experimental methodology; external validity; pro-social behaviour; cooperation
Attached files
Description Experimental social scientists working at research-intensive institutions deal inevitably with subjects who have most likely participated in previous experiments. It is an important methodological question to know whether participants that have acquired a high level of lab-sophistication show altered pro-social behavioural patterns. In this paper, we focus both on the potential effect of the subjects’ lab-sophistication, and on the role of the knowledge about the level of lab-sophistication of the other participants. Our main findings show that while lab-sophistication per se does not significantly affect pro-social behaviour, for sophisticated subjects the knowledge about the counterpart’s level of (un)sophistication may systematically alter their choices. This result should induce caution among experimenters about whether, in their settings, information about lab-sophistication can be inferred by the participants, due to the characteristics of the recruitment mechanisms, the management of the experimental sessions or to other contextual clues.
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