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Emotion and economic decision in the ultimatum game (In French)

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  • Emmanuel PETIT

Abstract

We study the impact of induced positive or negative emotions on economic decisions in a negotiation context. Decision was assessed with a well studied social task, the Ultimatum game. In this task, subjects had to make decisions to either accept or reject fair or unfair offers from other players. Emotion was induced with short movie clips. Our results show that participants induced with negative emotions (such as anger or indignation) reject significantly more unfair offers than subjects induced with positive emotions (such as joy or elation). These results demonstrate that even subtle emotions can play an important role in biasing decision making.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuel PETIT, 2009. "Emotion and economic decision in the ultimatum game (In French)," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2009-03, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    • Handle: RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2009-03
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    File URL: http://cahiersdugretha.u-bordeaux.fr/2009/2009-03.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Moral emotions; negotiation; induction procedure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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