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Choosing Who You Are: The Structure and Behavioral Effects of Revealed Identification Preferences

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  • Hett, Florian
  • Kröll, Markus
  • Mechtel, Mario

Abstract

Social identity is an important driver of behavior. But where do difierences in social identity come from? We use a novel laboratory experiment based on a revealed preference approach to analyze how individuals choose their identity. Facing a trade-off between monetary payments and belonging to difierent groups, individuals are willing to forego significant earnings to avoid certain groups and thereby reveal their identification preferences. We then show that these identification preferences are systematically related to behavioral heterogeneity in group-specific social preferences. These results illustrate the importance of identification as a choice and its relevance for explaining individual behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Hett, Florian & Kröll, Markus & Mechtel, Mario, 2017. "Choosing Who You Are: The Structure and Behavioral Effects of Revealed Identification Preferences," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168223, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc17:168223
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Paetzel, Fabian & Sausgruber, Rupert, 2018. "Cognitive ability and in-group bias: An experimental study," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 280-292.
    2. Fortuna Casoria & Ernesto Reuben & Christina Rott, 2022. "The Effect of Group Identity on Hiring Decisions with Incomplete Information," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(8), pages 6336-6345, August.
    3. Buscha, Franz & Muller, Daniel & Page, Lionel, 2017. "Can a common currency foster a shared social identity across different nations? The case of the euro," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 318-336.
    4. Nikoloz Kudashvili & Philipp Lergetporer, 2019. "Do Minorities Misrepresent Their Ethnicity to Avoid Discrimination?," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp644, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    5. Hermes, Henning & Hett, Florian & Mechtel, Mario & Schmidt, Felix & Schunk, Daniel & Wagner, Valentin, 2020. "Do children cooperate conditionally? Adapting the strategy method for first-graders," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 638-652.
    6. Bajrami, Leon & Loschelder, David D. & Mechtel, Mario, 2017. "The effect of information on social preferences towards an outgroup of refugees: A field experiment," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168225, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Suchon, Rémi & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2019. "The effects of status mobility and group identity on trust," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 430-463.
    8. Bauer, Kevin, 2020. "How did we do? The impact of relative performance feedback on intergroup hostilities," SAFE Working Paper Series 281, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    9. Nora Grote & Tim Klausmann & Mario Scharfbillig, 2019. "Investment in Identity in the Field - Nudging Refugees' Integration Effort," Working Papers 1905, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, revised 24 Sep 2021.
    10. Daniel Müller, 2017. "The anatomy of distributional preferences with group identity," Working Papers 2017-02, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck, revised Mar 2017.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social Identity; Identification; Social Preferences; Outgroup Discrimination;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles

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