Goldstone Research Unit
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
4-2009
Publication Source
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
Volume
22
Issue
2
Start Page
191
Last Page
208
DOI
10.1002/bdm.621
Abstract
Social norms play an important role in individual decision making. We argue that two different expectations influence our choice to obey a norm: what we expect others to do (empirical expectations) and what we believe others think we ought to do (normative expectations). Little is known about the relative importance of these two types of expectation in individuals' decisions, an issue that is particularly important when normative and empirical expectations are in conflict (e.g., systemic corruption, high crime cities). In this paper, we report data from Dictator game experiments where we exogenously manipulate dictators' expectations in the direction of either selfishness or fairness. When normative and empirical expectations are in conflict, we find that empirical expectations about other dictators' choices significantly predict a dictator's own choice. However, dictators' expectations regarding what other dictators think ought to be done do not have a significant impact on their decisions after controlling for empirical expectations. Our findings about the crucial influence of empirical expectations are important for designing institutions or policies aimed at discouraging undesirable behavior.
Copyright/Permission Statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the article which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bdm.621. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
Keywords
social norms, expectations, fairness, dictator game, decision making, leges sine moribus vanae
Recommended Citation
Bicchieri, C., & Xiao, E. (2009). Do the Right Thing: But Only If Others Do So. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 22 (2), 191-208. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bdm.621
Date Posted: 18 December 2014
This document has been peer reviewed.