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Cooperation, the power of a single word. Some experimental evidence on wording and gender effects in a Game of Chicken

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  • Marie-Laure Cabon-Dhersin

    (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics & Ecole normale supérieure de Cachan)

  • Nathalie Etchart-Vincent

    (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics & Ecole normale supérieure de Cachan)

Abstract

Wording has been widely shown to affect decision making. In this paper, we investigate experimentally whether and to what extent, cooperative behaviour in a Game of Chicken may be impated by a very basic change in the labelling of the strategies. Our within-subject experimental design involves two treatments. The only difference between them is that we introduce either a socially-oriented wording ("I cooperate"/"I do not cooperate") or colours (red/blue) to designate strategies. The level of cooperation appears to be higher in the socially-oriented context, but only when the uncertainty as regards the type of the partner is manipulated, and especially among females

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  • Marie-Laure Cabon-Dhersin & Nathalie Etchart-Vincent, 2010. "Cooperation, the power of a single word. Some experimental evidence on wording and gender effects in a Game of Chicken," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 10080, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    • Handle: RePEc:mse:cesdoc:10080
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    Cited by:

    1. Marie-Laure Cabon-Dhersin & Nathalie Etchart-Vincent, 2013. "Wording and gender effects in a Game of Chicken. An explorative experimental study," Working Papers hal-00796708, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social dilemma; Game of Chicken; cooperation; wording effects; gender effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior

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