Abstract
Problem statement: This study adopts an interdisciplinary approach in conducting the study on "curiosity" with a toolset of experimental economics. Approach: I hypothesized that the Decision Makers (DMs) tended to exhibit curiosity behavior when two conditions were met: (1) The DMs faced "small feedback-based" decision problems; (2) The DMs bore tangible costs of their curiosity behavior. Results: This study was the first to address the phenomenon of curiosity, using an economics experiment, where the DMs received financial performance-based incentives (i.e., monetary payoffs that were contingent on their performance in the experiment). Economics studies the cost and benefit of any action made by the DMs, whereas psychologists do not. A key feature of the current experiment was that the DMs faced 100-fold binary choice between two alternatives, both of which yielded fixed payoffs. Conclusion/Recommendations: Experimental results were interpreted as a confirmation of the hypothesis that curiosity was aroused when the aforementioned two conditions were met.
Highlights
This study is the first to study the psychological facet of curiosity behavior in “small feedback-based”in terms of net payoffs
Given that the orthodox conception defines economic rationality as the maximization of utility function defined on a sure amount of money, the results revealed that the participants exhibited a string of irrational economic behaviors
The results reveal that some participants chose both L and R within 100 rounds, exhibiting curiosity-seeking behavior
Summary
This study is the first to study the psychological facet of curiosity behavior in “small feedback-based”. The importance of shedding decision problems with a toolset of experimental light on small feedback-based decision problems in economics. Among remarkable methodological investigating curiosity behavior is distinctions between experimental practice in concerned with curiosity about problematical behavior economics and that in psychology, one remarkable among adolescents, such as their frequent smoking. Distinction is that economists pay the participants (i.e., provide financial incentives) according to their decisions and performance, whereas psychologists do not. The participants in economics experiments bear tangible costs of their behavior in laboratories. A feature of the current experiment on curiosity is that the participants receive monetary payoffs that are National Institutes of Health (1976) medically and legally defined age
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