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Keeping others in our mind or in our heart? Distribution games under cognitive load

Author

Listed:
  • Hauge, Karen Evelyn

    (Frisch Centre for Economic Research)

  • Brekke, Kjell Arne

    (University of Oslo)

  • Johansson, Lars-Olof

    (Department of Psychology)

  • Johansson-Stenman, Olof

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

  • Svedsäter, Henrik

    (London Business School)

Abstract

It has recently been argued that giving is spontaneous while greed is calculated (Rand et al. 2012). If greed is calculated we would expect that cognitive load, which is assumed to reduce the influence of cognitive processes, should affect greed. In this paper we study both charitable giving and the behavior of dictators under high and low cognitive load, to test if greed is affected by the load. In the dictator games we use both a give frame, where the dictators are given an amount that they may share with a partner, and a take frame, where dictators may take from an amount initially allocated to the partner. The results show consistently that the behavioral effect in terms of allocated money of the induced load is small if at all existent. At the same time, follow-up questions indicate that the subjects’ decisions are more driven by their feelings and less driven by their thoughts under cognitive load.

Suggested Citation

  • Hauge, Karen Evelyn & Brekke, Kjell Arne & Johansson, Lars-Olof & Johansson-Stenman, Olof & Svedsäter, Henrik, 2014. "Keeping others in our mind or in our heart? Distribution games under cognitive load," Working Papers in Economics 600, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0600
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cognitive load; Dictator games; Social preferences; Pro-social behavior; altruism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers

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