Abstract
Employing a two-by-two factorial design that manipulates whether dictator groups are single or mixed-sex and whether procedures are single or double-blind, we examine gender effects in a standard dictator game. No gender effect was found in any of the experimental treatments. Moreover, neither single - versus mixed - sex groups nor level of anonymity had any impact on either male or female behavior.
Highlights
Numerous experimental and theoretical studies have examined and analyzed other-regarding versus self-interested behavior (e.g., Bolton and Ockenfels, 2000; Camerer, 2003; Fehr and Schmidt, 1999; Rabin, 1993)
Using a binary measure of whether a dictator gave away a positive amount or not as the dependent variable and gender as the independent variable, logit regressions did not yield any significant gender effect in any of these three treatments either
Attitudes toward gender in New Zealand appear to resemble those in the United States, our db treatment provides complete anonymity, and in EG, only one subject, a male, gave away more than half of his endowment
Summary
Numerous experimental and theoretical studies have examined and analyzed other-regarding versus self-interested behavior (e.g., Bolton and Ockenfels, 2000; Camerer, 2003; Fehr and Schmidt, 1999; Rabin, 1993). Within the large dictator-game literature, gender has been studied to determine whether one sex is more generous than the other. We intended to identify the source of this discrepancy by means of a two-bytwo factorial design that manipulates whether dictator groups are single or mixed-sex ( ss or ms) and whether procedures are single- or double-blind ( sb or db).. Shih et al (1999) demonstrate that Asian-American women perform better on a mathematics test when their ethnic identity is activated and worse when their gender identity is activated than a control group They argue that the activation of cultural and gender stereotypes is responsible for these results. Neither single- versus mixed-sex groups nor level of anonymity had any impact on either male or female behavior
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