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Social Interaction Promotes Risk Taking in a Stag Hunt Game

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  • Gary E. Bolton
  • Christoph Feldhaus
  • Axel Ockenfels

Abstract

We demonstrate that people are more willing to take risks in a stag hunt game when the agent of uncertainty is another person, thereby promoting cooperation. Recent social cognition research suggests an explanation for this pattern, which is based on the idea that games that align interests between subjects activate a trust mindset.
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Suggested Citation

  • Gary E. Bolton & Christoph Feldhaus & Axel Ockenfels, 2016. "Social Interaction Promotes Risk Taking in a Stag Hunt Game," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 17(3), pages 409-423, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:germec:v:17:y:2016:i:3:p:409-423
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    Cited by:

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    2. Wenbo Zou & Xue Xu, 2023. "Ingroup bias in a social learning experiment," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 26(1), pages 27-54, March.
    3. Maoliang Ye & Jie Zheng & Plamen Nikolov & Sam Asher, 2020. "One Step at a Time: Does Gradualism Build Coordination?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(1), pages 113-129, January.
    4. Takeharu Sogo, 2019. "Competition among procrastinators," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 86(3), pages 325-337, May.
    5. Keser Claudia & Gaudeul Alexia, 2016. "Foreword: Special Issue in Honor of Reinhard Selten’s 85th Birthday," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 277-283, August.
    6. Schuch, Esther & Dirks, Simone & Nhim, Tum & Richter, Andries, 2021. "Cooperation under social and strategic uncertainty – The role of risk and social capital in rural Cambodia," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    7. Jeffrey V. Butler & Joshua B. Miller, 2018. "Social Risk and the Dimensionality of Intentions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(6), pages 2787-2796, June.
    8. Ockenfels, Axel & Schier, Uta K., 2020. "Games as frames," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 97-106.
    9. Li, Chen & Turmunkh, Uyanga & Wakker, Peter P., 2020. "Social and strategic ambiguity versus betrayal aversion," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 272-287.

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