When to favour your own group? The threats of costly punishments and in-group favouritism
Using a laboratory experiment with minimal groups, we examined the extent to which the threats of costly punishments affect in-group favouritism behaviour. We studied three types of punishment separately: in-group, out-group, and third-party punishments. In line with previous studies, the majority o...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working paper |
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University of Oxford
2012
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| _version_ | 1797084299151802368 |
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| author | Harris, D Herrmann, B Kontoleon, A |
| author_facet | Harris, D Herrmann, B Kontoleon, A |
| author_sort | Harris, D |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Using a laboratory experiment with minimal groups, we examined the extent to which the threats of costly punishments affect in-group favouritism behaviour. We studied three types of punishment separately: in-group, out-group, and third-party punishments. In line with previous studies, the majority of the allocators favoured their own group by allocating more money to each of the in-group members at the expense of the out-group in the baseline without punishment. In the in-group punishment treatment, we observed a slight increase in in-group favouritism behaviour. On the contrary, when only the out-group could punish the allocators, there was a significant drop in in-group favouritism behaviour as well as an increase in the equal division option. Finally, when faced with an independent third-party punisher the allocators continued to favour their own group. The threat of third-party punishment appeared to have no effect on their decisions. Our paper contributes to the literature on in-group favouritism and the nature of social norms by showing that the decision whether to favour one |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:53:32Z |
| format | Working paper |
| id | oxford-uuid:9af15b4d-4033-4fdf-9bb9-1fc800a857af |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:53:32Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | University of Oxford |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:9af15b4d-4033-4fdf-9bb9-1fc800a857af2022-03-27T00:25:03ZWhen to favour your own group? The threats of costly punishments and in-group favouritismWorking paperhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_8042uuid:9af15b4d-4033-4fdf-9bb9-1fc800a857afBulk import via SwordSymplectic ElementsUniversity of Oxford2012Harris, DHerrmann, BKontoleon, AUsing a laboratory experiment with minimal groups, we examined the extent to which the threats of costly punishments affect in-group favouritism behaviour. We studied three types of punishment separately: in-group, out-group, and third-party punishments. In line with previous studies, the majority of the allocators favoured their own group by allocating more money to each of the in-group members at the expense of the out-group in the baseline without punishment. In the in-group punishment treatment, we observed a slight increase in in-group favouritism behaviour. On the contrary, when only the out-group could punish the allocators, there was a significant drop in in-group favouritism behaviour as well as an increase in the equal division option. Finally, when faced with an independent third-party punisher the allocators continued to favour their own group. The threat of third-party punishment appeared to have no effect on their decisions. Our paper contributes to the literature on in-group favouritism and the nature of social norms by showing that the decision whether to favour one |
| spellingShingle | Harris, D Herrmann, B Kontoleon, A When to favour your own group? The threats of costly punishments and in-group favouritism |
| title | When to favour your own group? The threats of costly punishments and in-group favouritism |
| title_full | When to favour your own group? The threats of costly punishments and in-group favouritism |
| title_fullStr | When to favour your own group? The threats of costly punishments and in-group favouritism |
| title_full_unstemmed | When to favour your own group? The threats of costly punishments and in-group favouritism |
| title_short | When to favour your own group? The threats of costly punishments and in-group favouritism |
| title_sort | when to favour your own group the threats of costly punishments and in group favouritism |
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