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Related Experiment Videos

When does "economic man" dominate social behavior?

Colin F Camerer1, Ernst Fehr

  • 1California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. camerer@hss.caltech.edu

Science (New York, N.Y.)
|January 10, 2006
PubMed
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Strategic incentives determine whether self-regarding or other-regarding behavior shapes economic outcomes. A small group can influence the majority, challenging traditional "Economic Man" models with bounded rationality and other-regarding preferences.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Economics
  • Game Theory
  • Social Psychology

Background:

  • Traditional economic models assume rational, self-regarding individuals.
  • Empirical evidence increasingly challenges this assumption, highlighting bounded rationality and other-regarding preferences.
  • Understanding the conditions under which these different preferences dominate social interactions is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of strategic incentives in determining aggregate social and economic outcomes.
  • To explain how minority behaviors can influence majority actions based on strategic incentives.
  • To reconcile findings with theories of bounded rationality and other-regarding preferences.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical modeling of strategic interactions.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Analysis of how incentives shape behavior in groups with mixed preferences (self-regarding vs. other-regarding).
  • Examination of strategic thinking levels in game theory contexts.

    • Main Results:

    • A minority of self-regarding individuals can induce noncooperative outcomes by incentivizing others to mimic them.
    • A minority of other-regarding individuals can foster cooperative outcomes by incentivizing self-regarding individuals.
    • Aggregate outcomes can deviate from or align with Nash equilibrium based on strategic thinking levels.

    Conclusions:

    • Strategic incentives are the primary driver of cooperative or noncooperative aggregate behavior.
    • Theories of bounded rationality and other-regarding preferences offer superior explanations for observed behavior compared to traditional economic theory.
    • These findings underscore the importance of considering diverse preferences and strategic considerations in economic modeling.