Work

The Sharing Game: Fairness in resource allocation as a function of incentive, gender, and recipient types

Year: 2007

Type: article

Abstract: Economic games involving allocation of resources have been a useful tool for the study of decision making for both psychologists and economists. In two experiments involving a repeated-trials game over twenty opportunities, undergraduates made choices to distribute resources between themselves and an unseen, passive other either optimally (for themselves) but non-competitively, equally but non-optimally, or least optimally but competitively. Surprisingly, whether participants were told that the anonymous other was another student or a computer did not matter. Using such terms as “game” and “player” in the course of the session was associated with an increased frequency of competitive behavior. Males were more optimal than females: a gender-by-incentive interaction was found in the first experiment. In agreement with prior research, participants whose resources were backed by monetary incentive acted the most optimally. Overall, equality was the modal strategy employed, although it is clear that motivational context affects the allocation of resources.

Source: Judgment and Decision Making

DOI: 10.1017/s1930297500000851

Authors: Arthur Kennelly, Edmund Fantino

Institution: University of California San Diego

Language: English

Topic: Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Gender equality

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,550