Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/56857 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Jena Economic Research Papers No. 2010,077
Publisher: 
Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena
Abstract: 
We investigate to what extent genuine social preferences can explain observed other-regarding behavior. In a dictator game variant subjects can choose whether to learn about the consequences of their choice for the receiver. We find that a majority of subjects showing other-regarding behavior when the payoffs of the receiver are known, choose to ignore these consequences if possible. This behavior is inconsistent with preferences about outcomes. Other-regarding behavior may also be explained by avoiding cognitive dissonance as in Konow (2000). Our experiment's choice data is in line with this approach. In addition, we successfully relate individual behavior to proxies for cognitive dissonance.
Subjects: 
social preferences
other-regarding behavior
experiments
social dilemma
cognitive dissonance
JEL: 
C72
D01
C91
D80
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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