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Competition, Cooperation, and Motivated Social Perceptions

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  • Jeanne Hagenbach

    (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Rachel Kranton

    (Duke University [Durham])

Abstract

Many empirical and experimental studies show that social divisions negatively impact economic outcomes. This experiment reverses the causal arrow and asks if economic settings affect individuals' social perceptions. Subjects receive information about counterparts' preferences and demographics and then work for bonus pay by completing a real-effort task. Subjects who compete for pay against their counterparts report having less in common with their counterparts than subjects in a cooperative setting. This effect emerges despite monetary incentives to report correctly the number of traits in common. The economic setting has little effect on the less precise evaluation of similarity to counterparts.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeanne Hagenbach & Rachel Kranton, 2023. "Competition, Cooperation, and Motivated Social Perceptions," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03792554, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03792554
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-03792554v2
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