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Trust among the Avatars: A Virtual World Experiment, with and without Textual and Visual Cues

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  • Stephen Atlas
  • Louis Putterman

Abstract

We invited “residents” of a virtual world who vary in real‐world age and occupation to play a trust game with stakes comparable to “in‐world” wages. In different treatments, the lab wall was adorned with an emotively suggestive photograph, a suggestive text was added to the instructions, or both a photo and text were added. We find high levels of trust and reciprocity that appear still higher for non‐student and older subjects. Variation of results by treatment suggests that both photographic and textual cues influenced the level of trust but not that of trustworthiness.

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  • Stephen Atlas & Louis Putterman, 2011. "Trust among the Avatars: A Virtual World Experiment, with and without Textual and Visual Cues," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 78(1), pages 63-86, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:78:y:2011:i:1:p:63-86
    DOI: 10.4284/0038-4038-78.1.63
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    1. John Duffy, 2011. "Trust in Second Life," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 78(1), pages 53-62, July.
    2. Innocenti, Alessandro, 2017. "Virtual reality experiments in economics," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 71-77.

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