Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/98876 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. 14-063/I
Publisher: 
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Abstract: 
Neutral framing is a standard tool of experimental economics. However, overly neutral instructions, which lack any contextual clues, can lead to strange behavior. In a contextless second price auction for a meaningless good, a majority of subjects enter positive bids - a case of cognitive experimenter demand effect. Subjects bid positive amounts because this is what they think they are tasked with in the experiment. Adding a second auction that has a context drastically reduces the positive bids in the meaningless first auction by reducing the cognitive experimenter demand effect.
Subjects: 
Context
Neutral Framing
Experimenter Demand Effect
Experiment
Second-Price Auction
JEL: 
C90
D44
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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