Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers
Creation-Date: 2014-05-25
Number: 14-063/I
Author-Name: Peter Dürsch
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Heidelberg, Germany
Author-Name: Julia Muller
Author-Workplace-Name: Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Title: Bidding for Nothing? The Pitfalls of overly Neutral Framing
Abstract: Neutral framing is a standard tool of experimental economics. However, overly neutral instructions, which lack any contextual clues, can lead to strange behavior. In a contextless second price auction for a meaningless good, a majority of subjects enter positive bids - a case of cognitive experimenter demand effect. Subjects bid positive amounts because this is what they think they are tasked with in the experiment. Adding a second auction that has a context drastically reduces the positive bids in the meaningless first auction by reducing the cognitive experimenter demand effect.
Classification-JEL: C90, D44
Keywords: Context, Neutral Framing, Experimenter Demand Effect, Experiment, Second-Price Auction
File-Url: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/14063.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 232074 bytes
Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20140063