TY - THES A1 - Wrzus, Cornelia T1 - Similarity in personal relationships : associations with relationship regulation between and within individuals T1 - Ähnlichkeit in Sozialen Beziehungen : intra- und interindividuelle Zusammenhänge mit Beziehungsregulation N2 - People engage in a multitude of different relationships. Relatives, spouses, and friends are modestly to moderately similar in various characteristics, e.g., personality characteristics, interests, appearance. The role of psychological (e.g., skills, global appraisal) and social (e.g., gender, familial status) similarities in personal relationships and the association with relationship quality (emotional closeness and reciprocity of support) were examined in four independent studies. Young adults (N = 456; M = 27 years) and middle-aged couples from four different family types (N = 171 couples, M = 38 years) gave answer to a computer-aided questionnaire regarding their ego-centered networks. A subsample of 175 middle-aged adults (77 couples and 21 individuals) participated in a one-year follow-up questioning. Two experimental studies (N = 470; N = 802), both including two assessments with an interval of five weeks, were conducted to examine causal relationships among similarity, closeness, and reciprocity expectations. Results underline the role of psychological and social similarities as covariates of emotional closeness and reciprocity of support on the between-relationship level, but indicate a relatively weak effect within established relationships. In specific relationships, such as parent-child relationships and friendships, psychological similarity partly alleviates the effects of missing genetic relatedness. Individual differences moderate these between-relationship effects. In all, results combine evolutionary and social psychological perspectives on similarity in personal relationships and extend previous findings by means of a network approach and an experimental manipulation of existing relationships. The findings further show that psychological and social similarity have different implications for the study of personal relationships depending on the phase in the developmental process of relationships. N2 - Verwandte, Partner und Freunde ähneln sich in einer Vielzahl von Merkmalen wie z.B. Persönlichkeitseigenschaften, Einstellungen oder Aussehen. Die Bedeutung von Ähnlichkeit in psychologischen und demografischen Eigenschaften von Beziehungspartnern und die Zusammenhänge mit der Qualität der Beziehung wurden in vier unabhängigen Studien untersucht. Junge Erwachsene (N = 456; M = 27 Jahre) und Paare aus vier verschiedenen Familienformen (N = 171 Paare, M = 38 Jahre) beurteilten in einem PC-gestützten Fragebogen die sozialen Beziehungen in ihrem ego-zentrierten Netzwerk hinsichtlich wahrgenommener Ähnlichkeit, emotionaler Nähe und Reziprozität der Unterstützung. Ein Teil der Paare (77 Paare und 21 Einzelpersonen) nahm an der Ein-Jahres-Längsschnittstudie teil. In zwei Experimenten (N = 470; N = 802) wurde die Wahrnehmung von Ähnlichkeit manipuliert, um die Kausalwirkung auf die emotionale Nähe und die Erwartung von reziprokem Verhalten in Beziehungen zu prüfen. Die Studien zeigten, dass innerhalb eines sozialen Netzwerkes ähnliche Beziehungspartner auch emotional näher beurteilt wurden, es jedoch kaum wechselseitige Beeinflussungen innerhalb bestehender Beziehungen gab. In spezifischen Beziehungen, wie Eltern-Kind- oder Freundschaftsbeziehungen, konnte psychologische Ähnlichkeit den Effekt der fehlenden genetischen Verwandtschaft teilweise aufheben. Merkmale der Person moderierten diese Zusammenhänge auf der Beziehungsebene. Die Ergebnisse verknüpfen die evolutionspsychologische und die sozialpsychologische Perspektive der Ähnlichkeitsforschung und ergänzen bisherige Befunde durch den Einsatz des Sozialen Netzwerkansatzes und der experimentellen Manipulation von bestehenden Beziehungen. Zudem zeigen die Befunde, dass psychologische und demografische Ähnlichkeit unterschiedliche Implikationen für die Beziehungsforschung haben, in Abhängigkeit von der Entwicklungsphase der Beziehung. KW - Ähnlichkeit KW - soziale Beziehungen KW - Mehrebenenanalyse KW - Evolutionspsychologie KW - Experiment KW - similarity KW - personal relationships KW - multilevel analysis KW - evolutionary psychology KW - experiment Y1 - 2008 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-20158 ER - TY - THES A1 - Stolley, Florian T1 - Four essays on altruism and compliance T1 - Vier Studien zu altruistischem und normenkonformem Verhalten N2 - There are numerous situations in which people ask for something or make a request, e.g. asking a favor, asking for help or requesting compliance with specific norms. For this reason, how to ask for something in order to increase people’s willingness to fulfill such requests is one of the most important question for many people working in various different fields of responsibility such as charitable giving, marketing, management or policy making. This dissertation consists of four chapters that deal with the effects of small changes in the decision-making environment on altruistic decision-making and compliance behavior. Most notably, written communication as an influencing factor is the focus of the first three chapters. The starting point was the question how to devise a request in order to maximize its chance of success (Chapter 1). The results of the first chapter originate the ideas for the second and third chapter. Chapter 2 analyzes how communication by a neutral third-party, i.e. a text from the experimenters that either reminds potential benefactors of their responsibility or highlights their freedom of choice, affects altruistic decision-making. Chapter 3 elaborates on the effect of thanking people in advance when asking them for help. While being not as closely related to the other chapters as the three first ones are, the fourth chapter deals as well with the question how compliance (here: compliance with norms and rules) is affected by subtle manipulations of the environment in which decisions are made. This chapter analyzes the effect of default settings in a tax return on tax compliance. In order to study the research questions outlined above, controlled experiments were conducted. Chapter 1, which analyzes the effect of text messages on the decision to give something to another person, employs a mini-dictator game. The recipient sends a free-form text message to the dictator before the latter makes a binary decision whether or not to give part of her or his endowment to the recipient. We find that putting effort into the message by writing a long note without spelling mistakes increases dictators’ willingness to give. Moreover, writing in a humorous way and mentioning reasons why the money is needed pays off. Furthermore, men and women seem to react differently to some message categories. Only men react positively to efficiency arguments, while only women react to messages that emphasize the dictator’s power and responsibility. Building on this last result, Chapter 2 attempts to disentangle the effect of reminding potential benefactors of their responsibility for the potential beneficiary and the effect of highlighting their decision power and freedom of choice on altruistic decision-making by studying the effects of two different texts on giving in a dictator game. We find that only men react positively to a text that stresses their responsibility for the recipient by giving more to her or him, whereas only women seem to react positively to a text that emphasizes their decision power and freedom of choice. Chapter 3 focuses on the compliance with a request. In the experiment, participants are asked to provide a detailed answer to an open question. Compliance is measured by the effort participants spend on answering the question. The treatment variable is whether or not they see the text “thanks in advance.” We find that participants react negatively by putting less effort into complying with the request in response to the phrase “thanks in advance.” Chapter 4 studies the effect of prefilled tax returns with mostly inaccurate default values on tax compliance. In a laboratory experiment, participants earn income by performing a real-effort task and must subsequently file a tax return for three consecutive rounds. In the main treatment, the tax return is prefilled with a default value, resulting from participants’ own performance in previous rounds, which varies in its relative size. The results suggest that there is no lasting effect of a default value on tax honesty, neither for relatively low nor relatively high defaults. However, participants who face a default that is lower than their true income in the first round evade significantly and substantially more taxes in this round than participants in the control treatment without a default. N2 - Es fallen einem zahlreiche Situationen ein, in denen Menschen um etwas bitten, sei es um Unterstützung oder um das Befolgen bestimmter Regeln oder Normen. Die Frage, wie man eine Bitte formulieren muss, um die Bereitschaft der Menschen zu erhöhen, diese Bitte zu erfüllen, ist daher eine äußerst wichtige für viele Menschen, die in ganz unterschiedlichen Bereichen arbeiten, beispielsweise in Hilfsorganisationen, im Marketing, im Management oder auch in der Politikberatung. Diese Dissertation besteht aus vier Kapiteln, die sich mit den Auswirkungen kleiner Veränderungen in der Entscheidungsumgebung auf altruistische Entscheidungen sowie unterstützendes und regelkonformes Verhalten befassen. Schriftliche Kommunikation als Einflussfaktor steht hierbei im Mittelpunkt der ersten drei Kapitel. Ausgangspunkt war die Frage, wie man eine Bitte formulieren muss, um ihre Erfolgsaussichten zu erhöhen (Kapitel 1). Aus den Ergebnissen des ersten Kapitels resultieren die Ideen für das zweite und dritte Kapitel. In Kapitel 2 wird untersucht, wie sich Kommunikation durch einen neutralen Dritten - ein Text der Experimentatoren, der potenzielle Wohltäter entweder an ihre Verantwortung oder ihre Entscheidungsfreiheit erinnert - auf eine altruistische Entscheidung auswirkt. In Kapitel 3 wird analysiert, was für einen Effekt es auf die Hilfsbereitschaft von Teilnehmern hat, wenn man ihnen bereits im Voraus für ihre Unterstützung dankt. Obwohl das vierte Kapitel weniger eng mit den anderen Kapiteln verbunden ist, als es die ersten drei sind, geht es auch hier um die Frage, wie sich die Bereitschaft der Teilnehmer, Normen zu befolgen, durch kleine Änderungen der Entscheidungsumgebung erhöhen lässt. In diesem Kapitel wird untersucht, welchen Einfluss vorausgefüllte Steuererklärungen auf die Steuerhinterziehung haben. Zur Beantwortung der oben genannten Forschungsfragen wurden Experimente durchgeführt. In Kapitel 1 wird ein Mini-Diktatorspiel verwendet, um herauszufinden, welchen Effekt Textnachrichten auf die Entscheidung haben, einer anderen Person etwas abzugeben. Die Person in der Rolle des Diktators liest eine vom Empfänger geschriebene Nachricht, bevor sie oder er die binäre Entscheidung trifft, einen Teil der Anfangsausstattung an den Empfänger abzugeben. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Diktatoren eher bereit sind, etwas abzugeben, wenn sich die Empfänger beim Schreiben der Nachricht bemüht haben, indem sie längere Nachrichten mit weniger Rechtschreibfehlern schreiben. Außerdem erhöhen humorvolle Nachrichten und welche, die Gründe nennen, wofür die Empfänger das Geld brauchen, die Bereitschaft der Diktatoren, Geld abzugeben. Darüber hinaus scheinen Männer und Frauen auf einige Nachrichteninhalte unterschiedlich zu reagieren. Nur Männer reagieren positiv auf Effizienzargumente, während nur Frauen auf Nachrichten reagieren, die die Macht und Verantwortung des Diktators unterstreichen. Aufbauend auf diesem letzten Ergebnis versucht das zweite Kapitel, die Effekte der Betonung der Entscheidungsmacht und der Betonung der Verantwortung auf altruistisches Handeln zu trennen. Hierzu wird der Effekt von zwei Texten auf Entscheidungen im Diktatorspiel untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass nur Männer positiv auf die Betonung ihrer Verantwortung reagieren, während Frauen tendenziell mehr abgeben, wenn ihre Entscheidungsmacht und Entscheidungsfreiheit hervorgehoben wird. KW - experiment KW - Experiment KW - Nudging KW - nudging KW - communication KW - Kommunikation Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-428013 ER - TY - THES A1 - Müller, Jirka T1 - Untersuchungen zum flow-Erleben bei Experimenten als physikalische Lerngelegenheit N2 - In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird untersucht, in wie weit physikalische Experimente ein flow-Erleben bei Lernenden hervorrufen. Flow-Erleben wird als Motivationsursache gesehen und soll den Weg zu Freude und Glück darstellen. Insbesondere wegen dem oft zitierten Fachkräftemangel in naturwissenschaftlichen und technischen Berufen ist eine Motivationssteigerung in naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichtsfächern wichtig. Denn trotz Leistungssteigerungen in internationalen Vergleichstests möchten in Deutschland deutlich weniger Schüler*innen einen solchen Beruf ergreifen als in anderen Industriestaaten. Daher gilt es, möglichst früh Schüler*innen für naturwissenschaftlich-technische Fächer zu begeistern und insbesondere im regelrecht verhassten Physikunterricht flow-Erleben zu erzeugen. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird das flow-Erleben von Studierenden in klassischen Laborexperimenten und FELS (Forschend-Entdeckendes Lernen mit dem Smartphone) als Lernumgebung untersucht. FELS ist eine an die Lebenswelt der Schüler*innen angepasste Lernumgebung, in der sie mit Smartphones ihre eigene Lebenswelt experimentell untersuchen. Es zeigt sich, dass sowohl klassische Laborexperimente als auch in der Lebenswelt durchgeführte, smartphonebasierte Experimente flow-Erleben erzeugen. Allerdings verursachen die smartphonebasierten Experimente kaum Stressgefühle. Die in dieser Arbeit herausgefundenen Ergebnisse liefern einen ersten Ansatz, der durch Folgestudien erweitert werden sollte. N2 - The present work examines to what extent physical experiments induce a flow-experience in students. Experiencing flow is seen as a source of motivation and should represent the path to joy and happiness. In particular, because of the often-cited shortage of employees in the natural sciences and technical professions, increasing motivation in natural sciences subjects is important. Because despite performance increases in international comparative tests, significantly fewer students in Germany want to take up such a profession than in other industrialized countries. It is therefore important to get students enthusiastic about scientific and technical subjects as early as possible and, in particular, to create a flow experience in the downright hated physics class. In the context of this work, the flow-experience of students is examined as a learning environment in classic laboratory experiments and FELS (inquiry-based learning with the smartphone, based on the German term: Forschend-Entdeckendes Lernen mit dem Smartphone). FELS is a learning environment adapted to the students' living environment, in which they use smartphones to experimentally examine their own living environment. It turns out that both classic laboratory experiments and smartphone-based experiments create flow-experiences. However, the smartphone-based experiments hardly cause any feelings of stress. The results found in this work provide a first approach, which should be expanded through follow-up studies. T2 - Examining the flow-experience in experiments as a physical learning opportunity KW - Flow KW - Smartphone KW - Experimente KW - Physikdidaktik KW - FELS KW - Lernumgebung KW - blended learning KW - Forschend Entdeckendes Lernen KW - inquiry based learning KW - physics education KW - learning environment KW - experiment Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-482879 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kurz, Verena A1 - Orland, Andreas A1 - Posadzy, Kinga T1 - Fairness versus efficiency BT - how procedural fairness concerns affect coordination T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - We investigate in a laboratory experiment whether procedural fairness concerns affect how well individuals are able to solve a coordination problem in a two-player Volunteer's Dilemma. Subjects receive external action recommendations, either to volunteer or to abstain from it, in order to facilitate coordination and improve efficiency. We manipulate the fairness of the recommendation procedure by varying the probabilities of receiving the disadvantageous recommendation to volunteer between players. We find evidence that while recommendations improve overall efficiency regardless of their implications for expected payoffs, there are behavioural asymmetries depending on the recommendation: advantageous recommendations are followed less frequently than disadvantageous ones and beliefs about others' actions are more pessimistic in the treatment with recommendations inducing unequal expected payoffs. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe - 117 KW - coordination KW - correlated equilibrium KW - recommendations KW - procedural fairness KW - volunteer’s dilemma KW - experiment Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-432611 SN - 1867-5808 IS - 117 SP - 601 EP - 626 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Heuer, Leonie A1 - Orland, Andreas T1 - Cooperation in the Prisoner’s Dilemma BT - an experimental comparison between pure and mixed strategies T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Cooperation is — despite not being predicted by game theory — a widely documented aspect of human behaviour in Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) situations. This article presents a comparison between subjects restricted to playing pure strategies and subjects allowed to play mixed strategies in a one-shot symmetric PD laboratory experiment. Subjects interact with 10 other subjects and take their decisions all at once. Because subjects in the mixed-strategy treatment group are allowed to condition their level of cooperation more precisely on their beliefs about their counterparts’ level of cooperation, we predicted the cooperation rate in the mixed-strategy treatment group to be higher than in the pure-strategy control group. The results of our experiment reject our prediction: even after controlling for beliefs about the other subjects’ level of cooperation, we find that cooperation in the mixed-strategy group is lower than in the pure-strategy group. We also find, however, that subjects in the mixedstrategy group condition their cooperative behaviour more closely on their beliefs than in the pure-strategy group. In the mixed-strategy group, most subjects choose intermediate levels of cooperation. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe - 107 KW - cooperation KW - experiment KW - human behaviour KW - Prisoner's Dilemma Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-435929 SN - 1867-5808 IS - 107 ER - TY - THES A1 - Fischer, Jost Leonhardt T1 - Nichtlineare Kopplungsmechanismen akustischer Oszillatoren am Beispiel der Synchronisation von Orgelpfeifen T1 - Nonlinear coupling mechanisms of acoustical oscillators using the example of synchronization of organ pipes N2 - In dieser Arbeit werden nichtlineare Kopplungsmechanismen von akustischen Oszillatoren untersucht, die zu Synchronisation führen können. Aufbauend auf die Fragestellungen vorangegangener Arbeiten werden mit Hilfe theoretischer und experimenteller Studien sowie mit Hilfe numerischer Simulationen die Elemente der Tonentstehung in der Orgelpfeife und die Mechanismen der gegenseitigen Wechselwirkung von Orgelpfeifen identifiziert. Daraus wird erstmalig ein vollständig auf den aeroakustischen und fluiddynamischen Grundprinzipien basierendes nichtlinear gekoppeltes Modell selbst-erregter Oszillatoren für die Beschreibung des Verhaltens zweier wechselwirkender Orgelpfeifen entwickelt. Die durchgeführten Modellrechnungen werden mit den experimentellen Befunden verglichen. Es zeigt sich, dass die Tonentstehung und die Kopplungsmechanismen von Orgelpfeifen durch das entwickelte Oszillatormodell in weiten Teilen richtig beschrieben werden. Insbesondere kann damit die Ursache für den nichtlinearen Zusammenhang von Kopplungsstärke und Synchronisation des gekoppelten Zwei-Pfeifen Systems, welcher sich in einem nichtlinearen Verlauf der Arnoldzunge darstellt, geklärt werden. Mit den gewonnenen Erkenntnissen wird der Einfluss des Raumes auf die Tonentstehung bei Orgelpfeifen betrachtet. Dafür werden numerische Simulationen der Wechselwirkung einer Orgelpfeife mit verschiedenen Raumgeometrien, wie z. B. ebene, konvexe, konkave, und gezahnte Geometrien, exemplarisch untersucht. Auch der Einfluss von Schwellkästen auf die Tonentstehung und die Klangbildung der Orgelpfeife wird studiert. In weiteren, neuartigen Synchronisationsexperimenten mit identisch gestimmten Orgelpfeifen, sowie mit Mixturen wird die Synchronisation für verschiedene, horizontale und vertikale Pfeifenabstände in der Ebene der Schallabstrahlung, untersucht. Die dabei erstmalig beobachteten räumlich isotropen Unstetigkeiten im Schwingungsverhalten der gekoppelten Pfeifensysteme, deuten auf abstandsabhängige Wechsel zwischen gegen- und gleichphasigen Sychronisationsregimen hin. Abschließend wird die Möglichkeit dokumentiert, das Phänomen der Synchronisation zweier Orgelpfeifen durch numerische Simulationen, also der Behandlung der kompressiblen Navier-Stokes Gleichungen mit entsprechenden Rand- und Anfangsbedingungen, realitätsnah abzubilden. Auch dies stellt ein Novum dar. N2 - In this work non-linear coupling mechanisms in acoustic oscillator systems are examined which can lead to synchronization phenomena. This mechanisms are investigated in particular on organ pipes. Building up on the questions of preceding works the elements of the sound generation are identified using detailed experimental and theoretical studies, as well as numerical simulations. Furthermore the organ pipes interaction mechanisms of the mutual coupling are developed. This leads to a non-linear coupled oscillator model which is developed on the aeroacoustical and fluiddynamical first principles. The carried out model calculations are compared to the experimental results from preceding works. It appears that the sound generation and the coupling mechanisms are properly described by the developed nonlinear coupled model of self-sustained oscillators. In particular the cause can be cleared with it for the non-linear edges of the Arnold tongue of the coupled two-pipe system. With the new knowledge the influence of various space geometries on the sound generation of organ pipes is investigated. With numerical simulations the interaction of an organ pipe and different space geometries, like plane, convex, concave, and ridged geometry is studied. Also the influence of so called swell boxes on the sound generation and the sound pattern of the organ pipe is studied. In further new synchronization experiments with precisely equally tuned pairs of organ pipes, as well as with mixtures the synchronization is examined for various grids of horizontal and vertical pipe distances in the 2D-plane of sound radiation. The spatial discontinuities observed in the oscillation behaviour of the coupled pipe systems, point to changes between anti-phase and in-phase regimes of sychronization depending on pipes distances. Finally the possibility is documented to describe the phenomenon of the synchronization of two organ pipes realisticaly by solving the compressible Navier-Stokes equations numerically. KW - Synchronisation KW - Orgelpfeifen KW - Simulation KW - Experiment KW - Modell KW - synchronization KW - organ pipes KW - simulation KW - experiment KW - model Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-71975 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Stolley, Florian A1 - Utikal, Verena T1 - Getting a Yes BT - An Experiment on the Power of Asking T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - This paper studies how the request for a favor has to be devised in order to maximize its chance of success. We present results from a mini-dictator game, in which the recipient can send a free-form text message to the dictator before the latter decides. We find that putting effort into the message, writing in a humorous way and mentioning reasons why the money is needed pays off. Additionally, we find differences in the behavior of male and female dictators. Only men react positively to efficiency arguments, while only women react to messages that emphasize the dictator’s power and responsibility. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 2 KW - dictator game KW - communication KW - inequality KW - text analysis KW - experiment Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427638 SN - 2628-653X IS - 2 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Stolley, Florian T1 - Gender differences in the response to decision power and responsibility BT - Framing effects in a dictator game T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - This paper studies the effects of two different frames on decisions in a dictator game. Before making their allocation decision, dictators read a short text. Depending on the treatment, the text either emphasizes their decision power and freedom of choice or it stresses their responsibility for the receiver’s payoff. Including a control treatment without such a text, three treatments are conducted with a total of 207 dictators. Our results show a different reaction to these texts depending on the dictator’s gender. We find that only men react positively to a text that stresses their responsibility for the receiver, while only women seem to react positively to a text that emphasizes their decision power and freedom of choice. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe - 135 KW - dictator game KW - framing KW - gender KW - experiment Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-473068 SN - 1867-5808 IS - 135 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Petrishcheva, Vasilisa T1 - Does communication increase the precision of beliefs? T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - In this paper, we study one channel through which communication may facilitate cooperative behavior – belief precision. In a prisoner’s dilemma experiment, we show that communication not only makes individuals more optimistic that their partner will cooperate but also increases the precision of this belief, thereby reducing strategic uncertainty. To disentangle the shift in mean beliefs from the increase in precision, we elicit beliefs and precision in a two-stage procedure and in three situations: without communication, before communication, and after communication. We find that the precision of beliefs increases during communication. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 74 KW - prisoner’s dilemma KW - communication KW - beliefs KW - strategic uncertainty KW - experiment Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-629367 SN - 2628-653X IS - 74 SP - 1 EP - 33 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Nithammer, Juri A1 - Stolley, Florian T1 - ”Thanks in Advance” BT - The Negative Effect of a Polite Phrase on Compliance with a Request T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - This paper studies the effect of the commonly used phrase “thanks in advance” on compliance with a small request. In a controlled laboratory experiment we ask participants to give a detailed answer to an open question. The treatment variable is whether or not they see the phrase “thanks in advance.” Our participants react to the treatment by exerting less effort in answering the request even though they perceive the phrase as polite. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 7 KW - compliance behavior KW - gratitude KW - reciprocity KW - experiment Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427706 SN - 2628-653X IS - 7 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Güth, Werner A1 - Nithammer, Juri A1 - Orland, Andreas T1 - Inefficient Cooperation under Stochastic and Strategic Uncertainty T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - Stochastic uncertainty can cause difficult coordination problems that may hinder mutually beneficial cooperation. We propose a mechanism of ex-post voluntary transfers designed to circumvent these coordination problems and ask whether it can do so. To test this, we implement a controlled laboratory experiment based on a repeatedly played Ultimatum Game with a stochastic endowment. Contrary to our hypothesis, we find that allowing voluntary transfers does not entail an efficiency increase. We suggest and analyze two main reasons for this finding: First, the stochastic uncertainty forces proposers to accept high strategic uncertainty if they intend to cooperate by claiming a low amount (which many proposers do not). Second, many responders behave only incompletely conditionally cooperative by transferring too little (which hinders cooperation in future periods). T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 20 KW - stochastic uncertainty KW - strategic uncertainty KW - cooperation KW - Ultimatum Game KW - experiment Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-475500 SN - 2628-653X IS - 20 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Güth, Werner A1 - Hertwig, Ralph A1 - Orland, Andreas T1 - Do people harness deliberate ignorance to avoid envy and its detrimental effects? T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - Envy is an unpleasant emotion. If individuals anticipate that comparing their payoff with the (potentially higher) payoff of others will make them envious, they may want to actively avoid information about other people’s payoffs. Given the opportunity to reduce another person’s payoff, an individual’s envy may trigger behavior that is detrimental to welfare. In this case, if individuals anticipate that they will react in a welfare-reducing way, they may also avoid information about other people’s payoffs from the outset. We investigated these two hypotheses using three experiments. We found that 13% of our potentially envious subjects avoided information when they did not have the opportunity to reduce another participant’s payoff. Psychological scales do not explain this behavior. We also found that voluntarily uninformed subjects did neither deduct less of the payoff nor less frequently than subjects who could not avoid the information. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 17 KW - envy KW - emotion regulation KW - deliberate ignorance KW - punishment KW - experiment Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-444463 SN - 2628-653X IS - 17 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Felgendreher, Simon A1 - Güth, Werner A1 - Hertwig, Ralph T1 - Strategic ignorance in repeated prisoners’ dilemma experiments and its effects on the dynamics of voluntary cooperation T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - Being ignorant of key aspects of a strategic interaction can represent an advantage rather than a handicap. We study one particular context in which ignorance can be beneficial: iterated strategic interactions in which voluntary cooperation may be sustained into the final round if players voluntarily forego knowledge about the time horizon. We experimentally examine this option to remain ignorant about the time horizon in a finitely repeated two-person prisoners’ dilemma game. We confirm that pairs without horizon knowledge avoid the drop in cooperation that otherwise occurs toward the end of the game. However, this effect is superposed by cooperation declining more rapidly in pairs without horizon knowledge during the middle phase of the game, especially if players do not know that the other player also wanted to remain ignorant of the time horizon. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 10 KW - strategic ignorance KW - cooperation KW - prisoners' dilemma KW - experiment Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-431881 SN - 2628-653X IS - 10 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Eisenkopf, Gerald A1 - Nithammer, Juri T1 - Pre-election communication in public good games with endogenous leaders T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - Leadership plays an important role for the efficient and fair solution of social dilemmas but the effectiveness of a leader can vary substantially. Two main factors of leadership impact are the ability to induce high contributions by all group members and the (expected) fair use of power. Participants in our experiment decide about contributions to a public good. After all contributions are made, the leader can choose how much of the joint earnings to assign to herself; the remainder is distributed equally among the followers. Using machine learning techniques, we study whether the content of initial open statements by the group members predicts their behavior as a leader and whether groups are able to identify such clues and endogenously appoint a “good” leader to solve the dilemma. We find that leaders who promise fairness are more likely to behave fairly, and that followers appoint as leaders those who write more explicitly about fairness and efficiency. However, in their contribution decision, followers focus on the leader’s first-move contribution and place less importance on the content of the leader’s statements. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 73 KW - leadership KW - public good KW - voting KW - experiment KW - promises Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-623952 SN - 2628-653X IS - 73 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena T1 - Is There a Loyalty-Enhancing Effect of Retroactive Price-Reduction Schemes? T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - This paper presents an experiment on the effect of retroactive price-reduction schemes on buyers’ repeated purchase decisions. Such schemes promise buyers a reduced price for all units that are bought in a certain time frame if the total quantity that is purchased passes a given threshold. This study finds a loyalty-enhancing effect of retroactive price-reduction schemes only if the buyers ex-ante expected that entering into the scheme would maximize their monetary gain, but later learn that they should leave the scheme. Furthermore, the effect crucially hinges on the framing of the price reduction. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 5 KW - rebate and discount KW - buyer behavior KW - risk aversion KW - loss aversion KW - regulation of dominant firms KW - experiment Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427688 SN - 2628-653X IS - 5 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Andres, Maximilian A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Friedrichsen, Jana T1 - The Leniency Rule Revisited: Experiments on Cartel Formation with Open Communication T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - The experimental literature on antitrust enforcement provides robust evidence that communication plays an important role for the formation and stability of cartels. We extend these studies through a design that distinguishes between innocuous communication and communication about a cartel, sanctioning only the latter. To this aim, we introduce a participant in the role of the competition authority, who is properly incentivized to judge communication content and price setting behavior of the firms. Using this novel design, we revisit the question whether a leniency rule successfully destabilizes cartels. In contrast to existing experimental studies, we find that a leniency rule does not affect cartelization. We discuss potential explanations for this contrasting result. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 24 KW - cartel KW - judgment of communication KW - corporate leniency program KW - price competition KW - experiment Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-491696 SN - 2628-653X N1 - This project, including the design and hypotheses, was preregistered at OSF before data collection had started (osf.io/ubhz8). IS - 24 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Andres, Maximilian A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Friedrichsen, Jana T1 - Choosing between explicit cartel formation and tacit collusion – An experiment T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - Numerous studies investigate which sanctioning institutions prevent cartel formation but little is known as to how these sanctions work. We contribute to understanding the inner workings of cartels by studying experimentally the effect of sanctioning institutions on firms’ communication. Using machine learning to organize the chat communication into topics, we find that firms are significantly less likely to communicate explicitly about price fixing when sanctioning institutions are present. At the same time, average prices are lower when communication is less explicit. A mediation analysis suggests that sanctions are effective in hindering cartel formation not only because they introduce a risk of being fined but also by reducing the prevalence of explicit price communication. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 19 KW - cartel KW - collusion KW - communication KW - machine learning KW - experiment Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-473885 SN - 2628-653X IS - 19 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Andres, Maximilian A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Friedrichsen, Jana T1 - How communication makes the difference between a cartel and tacit collusion BT - a machine learning approach T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - This paper sheds new light on the role of communication for cartel formation. Using machine learning to evaluate free-form chat communication among firms in a laboratory experiment, we identify typical communication patterns for both explicit cartel formation and indirect attempts to collude tacitly. We document that firms are less likely to communicate explicitly about price fixing and more likely to use indirect messages when sanctioning institutions are present. This effect of sanctions on communication reinforces the direct cartel-deterring effect of sanctions as collusion is more difficult to reach and sustain without an explicit agreement. Indirect messages have no, or even a negative, effect on prices. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 53 KW - cartel KW - collusion KW - communication KW - machine learning KW - experiment Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-562234 SN - 2628-653X ER -