Research In Behavioral Economics Research Articles

Mental Bandwidth is Associated with HIV and Viral Suppression Among Low-Income Women in Philadelphia.

Behavioral economics research suggests poverty may influence behavior by reducing mental bandwidth, increasing future discounting, and increasing risk aversion. It is plausible these decision-making processes are further impaired in the context of HIV or pregnancy. In this cross-sectional study of 86 low-income women in Philadelphia, HIV was associated with lower mental bandwidth (one of two measures) and lower risk aversion. Pregnancy was not associated with any decision-making factors. In secondary analyses, viral suppression was associated with greater mental bandwidth (one of two measures), and antenatal clinic attendance with lower future discounting. Anti-poverty interventions may be beneficial to improve HIV-related health behaviors.

Climate change education through the lens of behavioral economics: A systematic review of studies on observed behavior and social norms

We conduct a systematic review (SR) of the empirical literature on Climate Change Education (CCE) through the lens of behavioral economics. We focus on the effects of educational interventions on actual behaviors or beliefs regarding the prevalence or social acceptability of these behaviors. We identify 86 studies evaluating CCE interventions. Most of them employ pre-post evaluations, which are more susceptible to demand effects and social desirability bias. Almost all report positive effects in terms of pro-environmental outcomes. Only 19 studies look at the effects of CCE on actual behavior (mainly on recycling, trashing or energy saving) or norm-related beliefs. Most interventions involve activities aimed at engaging learners. Others focus on nudges (like stickers or posters). A minority is based on lectures, deliberative discussions, or science-based interactions. The SR reveals important gaps in the literature and potential tensions that can inform future research in behavioral ecological economics.

Influence of surprise on reinforcement learning in younger and older adults.

Surprise is a key component of many learning experiences, and yet its precise computational role, and how it changes with age, remain debated. One major challenge is that surprise often occurs jointly with other variables, such as uncertainty and outcome probability. To assess how humans learn from surprising events, and whether aging affects this process, we studied choices while participants learned from bandits with either Gaussian or bi-modal outcome distributions, which decoupled outcome probability, uncertainty, and surprise. A total of 102 participants (51 older, aged 50-73; 51 younger, 19-30 years) chose between three bandits, one of which had a bimodal outcome distribution. Behavioral analyses showed that both age-groups learned the average of the bimodal bandit less well. A trial-by-trial analysis indicated that participants performed choice reversals immediately following large absolute prediction errors, consistent with heightened sensitivity to surprise. This effect was stronger in older adults. Computational models indicated that learning rates in younger as well as older adults were influenced by surprise, rather than uncertainty, but also suggested large interindividual variability in the process underlying learning in our task. Our work bridges between behavioral economics research that has focused on how outcomes with low probability affect choice in older adults, and reinforcement learning work that has investigated age differences in the effects of uncertainty and suggests that older adults overly adapt to surprising events, even when accounting for probability and uncertainty effects.

Behavioral Biases among Producers: Experimental Evidence of Anchoring in Procurement Auctions

Abstract Experimental research in behavioral economics focuses on consumer behaviors. Similar experimental research on profit-maximizing producers is rare. In three field experiments involving commercial agricultural producers in the United States, we detect evidence of anchoring in competitive auctions for conservation contracts related to nutrient and pest management that were worth, on average, nearly $9,000. In these auctions, the value of the starting cost-share bid was randomized to be either 0% or 100%. When the starting value was 100%, final bids were 46% higher, on average. We find weak evidence that experience with conservation contracts may modestly attenuate the anchoring effect.

Прикладний програмний інтерфейс як метод моніторингу даних соціальних мереж для досліджень у поведінковій економіці

In today’s behavioral economics, research based on social media data is becoming increasingly popular. Interactive platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and others generate a wealth of data that can be used to analyze user behavior. Processing large amounts of information requires the development of effective tools for collection and analysis of such data. The application programming interface (API) is one of the key methods that provides real-time access to data. The application programming interface allows scientists to automate the process of collecting information, customize queries according to various criteria, and obtain structured data for further analysis. The article examines the use of application programming interfaces as methods for monitoring social network data for research in behavioral economics. The features of the use of social networks for scientific research are analyzed. A monitoring method has been developed for collecting and processing data using APIs to study the behavior of social media users. The parameters of data collection (keywords, hashtags, time intervals, etc.) are determined, scripts for processing and storing data are created, a mechanism for starting the data collection process and monitoring its effectiveness and stability are designed. The proposed monitoring algorithm allows you to collect a representative database, analyze the content and interactions of social media users. APIs provide the ability to obtain a large amount of up-to-date and relevant information about user behavior, preferences, social interactions, and reactions to economic events, which allows for effective real-time data collection and analysis and increases the accuracy of forecasts in behavioral economics. Prospects for further research include the analysis of social media data, which will identify the impact of social and information factors on investment decision-making in the context of the market of virtual assets.

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS

Introduction. The modern economic world, saturated with instability and uncertainty, requires new approaches to understanding and managing economic processes. In this context the relevance of experimental behavioral economics research is extremely important. Making economic decisions is not an exclusively rational process, because it is also connected with psychological factors that determine the behavior of subjects in the market and in management processes. Understanding these psychological aspects, their influence on decision-making and the development of strategies that would take these features into account become a key task in the conditions of the modern global economic environment. The relevance of the study of experimental behavioral economics covers not only practical application in various strategies and management decisions, but is also considered in the context of the formation of socially responsible economic policies and interaction between various market subjects. Research in this direction will contribute to the formation of more flexible and adaptive strategies aimed at achieving sustainable development in conditions of uncertainty and rapid changes. The purpose of the article is to highlight the key aspects of experimental behavioral economics, to reveal its essence and the importance of its application in the modern economic environment, ta analyse the psychological factors, that influence economic decision-making, and to determine the importance of experimental behavioral economics as a tool for management and development of modern economic strategies. Results. The general results of the study indicate the need to rethink traditional approaches in the modern economy and demonstrate the significance and practical value of experimental behavioral economics in the development and optimization of strategies in various spheres of modern society. Conclusions. The analysis of the conclusions, presented in the article, opens up new perspectives for further research in the context of the development of the theory of behavioral economics and its impact on economic practice.

Using Behavioural Economics to Explain Substance Abuse Among Indian Adolescents

Understanding the behavioural factors that influence adolescent risky behaviour including substance abuse in India is critical for government agencies and organisations working to combat the now upsurging problem caused by substance use amongst adolescents. The objective of this study is to find out the behavioural biases that influence risky behaviour, including substance abuse among adolescents in India. An exploratory factor analysis is conducted on the responses of 682 teenage respondents from a close-ended questionnaire administered electronically in five schools in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The Bandwagon Effect, Hard Easy Effect, Optimism Bias, Sunk Cost Fallacy, Social Norms, Disposition Effect, Illusion of Validity, and Availability Heuristic emerged as the factors most affecting the risky behaviour of adolescents including substance abuse. The findings of this research can be used to develop effective interventions to mitigate the effect of these biases on adolescent substance abuse and other risky behaviours. This study enriches the behavioural economics literature by focusing on teenage substance abuse, filling a critical research gap, and providing valuable insights for public health interventions. It also provides benchmarks for future research and policy-making in behavioural economics.

The Impact of Choice Overload on Decision Deferral in Cybersecurity

Since a large area of cybersecurity research is technically centered but most cyber incidents are human enabled (Nobles, 2018), a shift in focus towards behavioral issues is imperative to improve the understanding of these problems. Research in behavioral economics shows that cognitive biases can impact the decision-making process. For example, a seminal study conducted by Iyengar and Lepper (2000) reveals that a large array of product options attracted customers to browse, but fewer choices got them to buy. Similar research shows that when presented with a large array of options, customers tend to defer decisions, search for alternatives, or even opt not to choose (Dhar, 1997; Shafir, Simonson and Tversky, 1993). Choice overload bias, also known as over-choice, choice paralysis, or the paradox of choice, describes how individuals get overwhelmed when presented with a large number of options to choose from. While we tend to assume that more choice is a good thing (Ryan and Deci, 2001), behavioral economics related research has shown that people have a harder time choosing from a larger array of options (Chernev, Böckenholt and Goodman, 2015). This study translates extant behavioral economics based research on choice overload from various disciplines (e.g., business, public administration, medical science, sociology) and explores its impact on cybersecurity.

Alcohol cues increase behavioral economic demand and craving for alcohol in nontreatment-seeking and treatment-seeking heavy drinkers.

Behavioral economic research has revealed significant increases in alcohol demand following exposure to alcohol-related cues. Prior research has focused exclusively on nontreatment-seeking heavy drinkers, included only male participants, or used heterogeneous methods. The current studies sought to replicate and extend existing findings in treatment-seeking and nontreatment-seeking heavy drinkers while also examining sex effects and moderation by alcohol use disorder (AUD) severity. Study 1 included 117 nontreatment-seeking heavy drinkers (51.5% women; M age 34.69; 56.4% AUD+), and Study 2 included 89 treatment-seeking heavy drinkers with AUD (40.4% women; M age = 41.35). In both studies, alcohol demand was measured using a hypothetical alcohol purchase task (APT), and subjective alcohol craving was measured using visual analog scales. Measures were collected following exposure to neutral (water) cues in a standard room and alcohol cues in a bar lab. Alcohol demand (intensity, Omax , breakpoint, and elasticity) and craving were significantly increased following alcohol cues compared to neutral cues (ps < 0.005) with effect sizes ranging from small to large (ηp 2 = 0.074-0.480). Participants with AUD (Study 1) or with higher AUD severity (Study 2) reported higher craving and higher demand for most indices (i.e., main effects; ps < 0.032, ηp 2 = 0.043-0.239). A larger alcohol cue increase in Omax was found for AUD+ participants in Study 1 compared to non-AUD participants (p = 0.028, ηp 2 = 0.041) but not for any other indices in Study 1 or Study 2. There were no significant sex effects. These findings replicate and extend prior research by offering additional insight into alcohol cue effects on the reinforcing value of alcohol and subjective motivation to drink. The results also suggest that sex and AUD severity do not meaningfully impact cue effects across most indices of demand.

The endowment effect and temporal discounting of drug and non-drug commodities

ObjectivesDespite a rich history of behavioral economic research on substance use there remains a need for further exploration of behavioral mechanisms that may underlie the etiology or persistence of substance use disorder. The purpose of this study was to measure the association between delay discounting and the endowment effect in people who smoke cigarettes, use cocaine, and controls, using online crowdsourcing. MethodsParticipants were categorized to a cocaine group (n = 36), cigarette group (n = 48), or control group (n = 47) based on recent reported drug use. Based on group, participants completed up to three delay discounting tasks (i.e., money, cigarettes and cocaine), an endowment effect task for multiple commodities, and other questionnaires. ResultsParticipants in the cocaine and cigarette group demonstrated an increased rate in discounting for money compared to controls. Participants in the cocaine group had a less pronounced endowment effect for beer, compared to controls, as suggested by willingness to accept less to sell beer. A significant negative association was found between endowment ratios for non-drug commodities and delay discounting for cigarettes, but not monetary or cocaine delay discounting, indicating an inconsistent relationship between the two measures. ConclusionsThese results support prior research demonstrating a relationship between cocaine and cigarette use and delay discounting and extend that work by measuring the association between delay discounting and the endowment effect. Future research should include both loss aversion and endowment effect tasks and compare their relationship with delay discounting among people that use drugs.

Do green business practices license self-dealing or prime prosociality? Cross-domain evidence from environmental concern triggers

Prior research in psychology and behavioral economics provides mixed evidence of the effects of green business practices on workers’ subsequent ethics. While some studies find that sustainability initiatives spur additional prosocial behavior, other experiments document that engaging in environmentally friendly behavior induces moral licensing whereby workers justify self-serving, immoral actions. Using ride-level data from the New York City taxi market in a within-subjects design, we provide the first real-world, cross-domain test of these two theories and find evidence consistent with moral licensing. Specifically, we find that after exogenous shocks that spur environmental concern (e.g., receiving smog warnings), driving a hybrid vehicle increases the likelihood that a cabbie fraudulently overcharges their customers. These findings inform the literature on moral licensing and priming and are particularly relevant given the recent heightened demand for sustainable business practices.

Default settings affect children's decisions about whether to be honest

Behavioral economics research has revealed that our decision-making can be biased by default settings. That is, all other things being equal, adults tend to choose default options even when the effort involved in choosing other options is minimal. Extensive evidence shows that default settings can systematically influence adult decisions in a wide variety of domains (e.g., pension choices, organ donation), but little is known about their developmental origin. Of interest in the present research is whether default settings can influence young children's decisions about whether to be honest. We investigated this question in two studies of 5- and 6-year-old Chinese children (total N = 120; 60 girls; Mage = 5.81, SDage = 0.14). Each study used a specially designed device that allowed children to play a guessing game in either a Cheating Default condition in which they would cheat by doing nothing or in an Honesty Default condition in which they would be honest by doing nothing. In each condition, they had the option of taking a trivially easy action to override the default (pushing a button in Study 1 or moving a screen in Study 2). In both studies, children decided to cheat significantly more often in the Cheating Default condition than in the Honesty Default condition. Additionally, overall cheating rates were significantly higher in Study 2 than in Study 1 (55% vs. 25%), which suggests that even though the default setting effect generalized across different actions, the specific action in question can also affect the cheating rate. Taken together, these results indicate that default setting effects that have been observed in adults have origins in childhood, and they point toward new ways to use nudges to promote positive social development and moral decision-making.

A hypothetical lottery task to assess relative resource allocation toward alcohol and cannabis.

Relative spending on substances (vs. alternatives) is predictive of several substance use outcomes, but it can be challenging to assess. We examined a novel method of assessing relative resource allocation through the use of a hypothetical lottery task wherein participants assume they collected $100,000 United States dollars in lottery winnings and were tasked with allocating their winnings across spending categories (e.g., savings, leisure, alcohol, cannabis). We hypothesized relative allocation of funds toward alcohol and cannabis would be positively associated with more use and problems of each substance. College students (N = 479; Mage = 19.9 [SD = 2.2]) reported on their substance use and problems, alcohol and cannabis demand, and the hypothetical lottery task. Relative resource allocation toward alcohol and cannabis on the lottery task positively correlated with alcohol and cannabis demand indices (intensity, breakpoint, Omax, and elasticity [negatively]), respectively. Using zero-inflated modeling, greater relative allocation toward alcohol positively related to alcohol use and problems in models that controlled for alcohol demand indices. For cannabis, relative resource allocation was also positively associated with cannabis use, but not problems, independently from cannabis demand indices. Results provide initial support for the hypothetical lottery task as an indicator of relative resource allocation toward substances. Generally, these results extend previous behavioral economic research demonstrating the utility of relative resource allocation as a unique predictor of clinically relevant outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Вивчення поведінки споживачів в системі бренд менеджменту

The issues of how a human thinks and what influences his decisions, the ratio of rational and irrational in consumer behaviour, and how the decision-making process works while purchasing goods are phenomena of human nature that are being researched and explained by modern behaviourists. In the conditions of active globalization, the external environment's instability, and the rapid development of digital technologies, effective business functioning is impossible without the regular study of consumer behaviour. The purpose of the article is the creation a methodology for studying consumer behaviour to make the appropriate business decisions in the brand management system of a modern enterprise. The study of scientific research in behavioural economics and neuromarketing made it possible to create the methodology with a list of methods that should be applied at each stage of studying consumer behaviour. This methodology is a practical and effective tool for modern enterprises that aim to create new brands, review their brand management strategies, expand their portfolio, etc. This study also presents relevant advice (regarding the study of consumer behaviour) for brand managers and marketers who are directly involved in forming and implementing the company's brand management strategy. It has been established that no tool inside a person allows one to assess the absolute value of one thing. Hence, consumers concentrate on the advantages of one option over another and evaluate the rational (conscious) and emotional (unconscious) levels of the advantages of purchasing. In such conditions, the formation of business decisions in the company's brand management system should be based on the insights obtained from the relevant consumer behaviour study.

Неоклассические корни поведенческой экономики

Despite the fact that the names of a number of Nobel laureates are associated with behavioral economics, researchers regard this branch of science as an unorthodox, avant-garde research program. This article aims to fill this theoretical gap and link behavioral economics to mainstream of economic thought, as well as to divide behavioral economics into several directions — relative to the initial approaches or theories of neoclassics. In the first row of cases, we collected those approaches of neoclassical economics about economic behavior, in relation to which alternative concepts were proposed by behavioral economics. These neoclassical approaches are rationality, awareness, egoism of behavior. Another series is neoclassical theories, in dialogue with which theories of behavioral economics arose. These are theories of expected utility, game theory, exponential discounted utility, revealed preferences, rational expectations, efficient market. The sequence of development of behavioral economics we presented connects it, a once heterodox branch of science with the mainstream economic thought. The article can serve as a guide to the most important areas of research in behavioral economics. This study systematizes scientific knowledge and establishes methodological links within it.

The War of Nerves: Inside the Cold War Mind by Martin Sixsmith

<i>The War of Nerves: Inside the Cold War Mind</i> by Martin Sixsmith

Automated governance mechanisms in digital labour platforms: how Uber nudges and sludges its drivers

ABSTRACT Using tools like machine learning algorithms, digital platforms raise new challenges to our understanding of control-governance dynamics in organisations. In this paper, we explore a unique governance mechanism; nudging – i.e. liberty-preserving approaches that steer people in particular directions – and provide exploratory findings that extend prior research in behavioural economics and organisational control-governance dynamics towards platform markets. We surveyed 166 Uber drivers to explicate the workings and effects of Uber’s good (i.e. transparent and easy to opt-out) and evil (i.e. obscure and misleading) nudges. Our findings suggest that while drivers are more satisfied with good nudges, these nudges do not make them more productive (i.e. increase their earnings-per-hour). Evil nudges, on the other hand, seem to have no effect on driver productivity. With experience, drivers learn to respond less to nudges (as they may realise that Uber’s nudges do not seem to increase their productivity). We extend the platform governance literature by highlighting whether and when nudges could influence drivers by creating false expectations. Our exploratory approach highlights new possible boundary conditions for the traditional theories, for example, Herzberg’s hygiene-motivation theory that, while differentiating hygiene factors from motivating factors, do not have the level of specificity to show the effects we discover here.

Behavioural Economics Towards Better Decision Making

Often, Individuals try to choose the best feasible option but sometimes, they don’t succeed in doing so. They make mistakes. Also, the market exchange makes psychological factors cease to matter but many psychological factors matter even for the markets.&#x0D; In contrast to the traditional assumption of neoclassical economics that individuals are rational Homooeconomici, that always seek to maximize their utility and follow their “true” preferences, research in behavioural economics has demonstrated that people’s judgments and decisions are often subject to systematic biases and heuristics, and are strongly dependent on the context of the decision.&#x0D; The insights from behavioural economics (BE) are now a well-established feature in consumer research and policy. Today, in fields from health behaviour to pension saving, from investment decisions to food choice, from sustainable consumption to the design of warning signs, the empirical and theoretical insights of BE have become a cornerstone of understanding consumer behaviour, helping inform policymakers on how to nudge people to make better, smarter, healthier and more sustainable choices (World Bank, 2014). BE is concerned with the question of how people actually behave in decision-making situations and how their choices can be improved so that consumers’ welfare is enhanced. For the market, it is always crucial to enhance sales every next quarter, using appropriate strategies.&#x0D; This paper makes a humble effort to briefly review the transition of the neoclassical (optimising) decision-making towards newer and better insights into behavioural economics and discuss how the latter has influenced and enhanced consumer behaviour and consumer policy on one hand and marketing strategy on the other.

The Influence of Budgets on Consumer Spending

Abstract Foundational research in marketing and behavioral economics has revealed a great deal about the psychology of budgeting. However, little is known about the extent to which budgets do (or do not) influence consumers’ real-world spending. The present research addresses this gap in the literature using naturally occurring budgeting and spending data provided by a popular personal finance app in the UK, a field experiment conducted with members of a Canadian credit union, and a financial diary study conducted with consumers in the US. Budget compliance is generally weak because budgets are wildly optimistic. However, optimistic budgets do help consumers reduce their spending. Moreover, the influence of budgets on spending is surprisingly sticky: consumers continue to reduce their spending six months after setting a budget, even though spending remains over-budget. Impulsive consumers exhibit worse budget compliance than less-impulsive consumers. However, counterintuitively, this is predominately because more impulsive consumers set lower budgets than less-impulsive consumers, not because they spend more. Finally, we provide evidence that budgets influence spending across several theory-informing psychographic variables. Taken together, these findings show that budgets can be both wildly optimistic and highly influential and that beliefs about the nature of consumers’ budgets require updating.

(Non-) impact of task experience on behavioral economic decision-making.

Behavioral economic research has been widely conducted via crowdsourcing resources to evaluate novel task designs or pilot interventions. One under recognized and yet-to-be tested concern is the impact of non-naïvety (i.e., prior task exposure) on behavioral economic task performance. We evaluated the influence of non-naïvety on task performance in two popular areas of behavioral economic research: behavioral economic demand and delay discounting. Participants (N = 485) recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk) completed alcohol and soda purchase tasks and delay discounting tasks for monetary and alcohol outcomes. Equivalence of responding and effect sizes with clinical variables were compared based on prior task experience. Over one quarter of participants reported demand task experience (26.9%) and nearly half endorsed delay discounting task experience (48.6%). Statistically equivalent responding was observed for alcohol purchase task data with less-than-small effect size differences based on task experience (d = 0.01-0.13). Similar results were observed for a soda purchase task thereby supporting generalization to a non-alcohol commodity. Measures of convergent and discriminant validity for behavioral economic demand indicated medium-to-large and stimulus-specific effect sizes with little variation based on prior task exposure. Delay discounting for money and alcohol showed some sensitivity to prior task experience (i.e., less steep discounting for non-naïve participants), however these effects were attenuated after accounting for group differences in alcohol use. These findings support the fidelity of behavioral economic task outcomes and emphasize that participant non-naïvety in crowdsourcing settings may minimally impact performance on behavioral economic assays commonly used in behavioral and addiction science. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).