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“I'm just a soul whose intentions are good”: The role of communication in noisy repeated games

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  • Arechar, Antonio A.
  • Dreber, Anna
  • Fudenberg, Drew
  • Rand, David G.

Abstract

We let participants indicate their intended action in a repeated game experiment where actions are implemented with errors. Even though communication is cheap talk, we find that the majority of messages were honest (although the majority of participants lied at least occasionally). As a result, communication has a positive effect on cooperation when the payoff matrix makes the returns to cooperation high; when the payoff matrix gives a lower return to cooperation, communication reduces overall cooperation. These results suggest that cheap talk communication can promote cooperation in repeated games, but only when there is already a self-interested motivation to cooperate.

Suggested Citation

  • Arechar, Antonio A. & Dreber, Anna & Fudenberg, Drew & Rand, David G., 2017. "“I'm just a soul whose intentions are good”: The role of communication in noisy repeated games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 726-743.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:104:y:2017:i:c:p:726-743
    DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2017.06.013
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    2. Coutts, Alexander, 2022. "Identifying communication spillovers in lab-in-the-field experiments," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    3. Dvorak, Fabian & Fehrler, Sebastian, 2018. "Negotiating Cooperation under Uncertainty: Communication in Noisy, Indefinitely Repeated Interactions," IZA Discussion Papers 11897, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Felix Kölle & Simone Quercia & Egon Tripodi, 2023. "Social Preferences under the Shadow of the Future," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 406, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    5. Fabian Dvorak, 2020. "stratEst: Strategy Estimation in R," TWI Research Paper Series 119, Thurgauer Wirtschaftsinstitut, Universität Konstanz.
    6. Gallo, Edoardo & Riyanto, Yohanes E. & Roy, Nilanjan & Teh, Tat-How, 2022. "Cooperation and punishment mechanisms in uncertain and dynamic social networks," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 75-103.
    7. Steiger, Sören & Pelster, Matthias, 2020. "Social interactions and asset pricing bubbles," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 503-522.
    8. Zeng, Weijun & Ai, Hongfeng & Zhao, Man, 2019. "Asymmetrical expectations of future interaction and cooperation in the iterated prisoner's dilemma game," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 359(C), pages 148-164.
    9. Kagel, John H., 2018. "Cooperation through communication: Teams and individuals in finitely repeated Prisoners’ dilemma games," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 55-64.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cooperation; Communication; Prisoner's dilemma; Repeated games; Intentions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C7 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory
    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • D00 - Microeconomics - - General - - - General

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