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Interpreting cynical beliefs about others

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  • Philipp Sternal

Abstract

A growing number of studies suggest that individuals are cynical about others’ behavior. But these findings often rely on self-reported rather than actual behavior as benchmark. A well-documented limitation of self-reports is their tendency to overstate good behavior. I introduce a simple, portable test to assess the extent to which inattention to others’ potential misreporting drives apparently cynical beliefs about stated behavior. Drawing people’s attention to the possibility of misreporting in self-reports increases beliefs about others’ stated desirable climate and health behaviors by an average of 0.33 standard deviations, substantially reducing apparent cynicism.

Suggested Citation

  • Philipp Sternal, 2025. "Interpreting cynical beliefs about others," ECON - Working Papers 465, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    • Handle: RePEc:zur:econwp:465
    as

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    File URL: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/276326/1/econwp465.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Misperception; social desirability; attention;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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