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Cognitive Processes of Distributional Preferences: A Response Time Study

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  • Fadong Chen
  • Urs Fischbacher

Abstract

There is ample evidence that people differ considerably in the strength of their social preferences. We identify individual heterogeneity in social motives and selfishness in a series of binary three-person dictator games. Based on this identification, we analyze response time to investigate the cognitive processes of distributional preferences. We find that response time increases with the number of conflicts between individually relevant motives and the difficulty of the decisions. The selfish motive is more intuitive for subjects who are more selfish. This is evidence for both, evidence accumulation models and dual-process theory, and we can show that heterogeneity in preferences is reflected in heterogeneity in the underlying cognitive processes. This shows that it is important to take heterogeneity of preferences into account when investigating the cognitive processes of social decision making.

Suggested Citation

  • Fadong Chen & Urs Fischbacher, 2015. "Cognitive Processes of Distributional Preferences: A Response Time Study," TWI Research Paper Series 101, Thurgauer Wirtschaftsinstitut, Universität Konstanz.
    • Handle: RePEc:twi:respas:0101
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    Cited by:

    1. Duffy, Sean & Naddeo, JJ & Owens, David & Smith, John, 2016. "Cognitive load and mixed strategies: On brains and minimax," MPRA Paper 89720, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Clithero, John A., 2018. "Response times in economics: Looking through the lens of sequential sampling models," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 61-86.
    3. Anna Louisa Merkel & Johannes Lohse, 2019. "Is fairness intuitive? An experiment accounting for subjective utility differences under time pressure," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 22(1), pages 24-50, March.
    4. Merkel, Anna & Lohse, Johannes, 2016. "Is fairness intuitive? An experiment accounting for the role of subjective utility differences under time pressure," Working Papers 0627, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    5. Fadong Chen & Urs Fischbacher, 2016. "Response time and click position: cheap indicators of preferences," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 2(2), pages 109-126, November.

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    Keywords

    distributional preferences; cognitive process; response time; heterogeneity;
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