• Media type: Report; E-Book
  • Title: Lab-Sophistication: Does Repeated Participation in Laboratory Experiments Affect Pro-Social Behaviour?
  • Contributor: Medda, Tiziana [Author]; Pelligra, Vittorio [Author]; Reggiani, Tommaso [Author]
  • Published: Brno: Masaryk University, Faculty of Economics and Administration, 2021
  • Language: English
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.5817/WP_MUNI_ECON_2021-06
  • Keywords: Pro-social behaviour ; D83 ; Cooperation ; External Validity ; Lab-sophistication ; C92 ; D03 ; Experimental Methodology ; C91
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  • Description: Experimental social scientists working at research-intensive institutions deal inevitably with subjects who have most likely participated in previous experiments. It is an important methodological question to know whether participants that have acquired a high level of lab-sophistication show altered pro-social behavioral patterns. In this paper, we focus both on the potential effect of the subjects' lab-sophistication, and on the role of the knowledge about the level of lab-sophistication of the other participants. Our main findings show that while lab-sophistication per se does not significantly affect pro-social behaviour, for sophisticated sub-jects the knowledge about the counterpart's level of (un)sophistication may systematically alter their choices. This result should induce caution among experimenters about whether, in their settings, information about lab-sophistication can be inferred by the participants, due to the characteristics of the recruitment mechanisms, the management of the experimental sessions or to other contextual clues.
  • Access State: Open Access