The aim of the focus is twofold: to examine appraisal processes underlying cooperation and decision making in economics, and to use economic games to study emotions.
Economists have shown increased interest in the emotional and biological foundations of behavior. However the correlative observation of how certain behaviors are related to emotional or biological factors does not tell us much about the underlying mechanisms. Some behavioral economists are therefore interested in opening up the black box between external inputs and behavioral outputs. This can be achieved by taking into account psychological theories (e.g. appraisal theory) of how inputs are evaluated, lead to emotional reactions, and in turn might influence behavior.
Psychologists are interested in the induction and elicitation of emotions. Models explaining these mechanisms have been repeatedly tested using psychological paradigms. The drawback of most induction methods, however, is their highly artificial and 'constructed' nature and their complete lack of external validity. Economic games are an ideal solution to this problem, allowing high experimental control as well as realism and external validity. Moreover, social dilemma games have been extensively studied by economists and good data is available about (average) behavior in these kinds of situations. Most important for emotion research, the monetary reward dependent on participant behaviors is highly involving, and the controlled game environment allows for careful parameter variation, thereby enabling a detailed study of emotion processes and their behavioral consequences.
This research focus, coordinated by Ernst Fehr and Tanja Wranik, has already started a project concerning individual differences and appraisal processes within Ultimatum Games. In particular, we wish to understand which individual factors will lead to anger and punishment, and if we can identify different groups of behavior based on appraisal processes and emotions. Whereas the first two studies will primarily look at the behavioral impact of individual differences, appraisal processes, and emotions, future studies will also add psycho-physiological measures and EEG.
During the last year, the original project was expanded to include other aspects of emotion and decision-making. Thus, the focus will address how different components of emotion will affect decision making in several domains including social decision (e.g., cooperation/competition, negotiation).
Subproject 1 deals with individual differences, appraisal, anger, and punishment in a trust game (Wranik, Leibrandt, Hopfensitz, Bediou, Fehr, Scherer). In this sub-project, we wish to understand which individual factors will lead to anger and punishment in a trust game, and if we can identify different groups of behavior based on appraisal processes and emotions. Whereas the first two studies should primarily look at the behavioral impact of individual differences, appraisal processes, and emotions, future studies will add psycho-physiological measures and EEG. Subproject 2 deals with individual differences, emotional processes, and financial investment decision-making (Wranik & Hopfensitz). The aim of this sub-project is to run a series of studies to understand how different individual factors (e.g., impulsivity, self-efficacy, anxiety, personality, emotion regulation) influence appraisals and emotions in multi-round investment tasks and to understand how different groups of individuals react to risk under different conditions.
Subproject 3 deals with social decision-making (Bediou & Sander). This is a new subproject that has recently been incorporated that will seek to examine the role of emotion in the elicitation, course and resolution of interpersonal conflict. One part of this subproject will examine the role of emotions in interpersonal conflicts occurring in international settings (i.e., between individuals or groups from different social, cultural, political or religious backgrounds), in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Doctoral Student: Andreas Leibbrandt
Post-doc: Benoît Bediou
