Underlying preferences are often considered to be persistent, and are important inputs into economic models. We first conduct an extensive review of the disparate literature studying the stability of preferences measured in experiments. Then, we test the stability of individuals’ choices in panel data from rural Paraguay over almost a decade. Answers to social preference survey questions are quite stable. Experimental measures of risk, time, and social preferences do not exhibit much stability. Correlations between experimental measures of risk aversion are a more precisely estimated zero, whereas correlations for time and social preferences are larger and noisier. We also find no systematic evidence that real world shocks influence play in games. We suggest that in a developing country context researchers should explore designing simpler experiments and including survey questions in addition to experiments to measure preferences.

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The stop-signal paradigm has been widely adopted as a way to parametrically quantify the response inhibition process. To evaluate inhibitory function in realistic environmental settings, the current study compared stop-signal responses in two different scenarios: one uses simple visual symbols as go and stop signals, and the other translates the typical design into a battlefield scenario (BFS) where a sniper-scope view was the background, a terrorist image was the go signal, a hostage image was the stop signal, and the task instructions were to shoot at terrorists only when hostages were not present but to refrain from shooting if hostages appeared. The BFS created a threatening environment and allowed the evaluation of how participants’ inhibitory control manifest in this realistic stop-signal task. In order to investigate the participants’ brain activities with both high spatial and temporal resolution, simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) recordings were acquired. The results demonstrated that both scenarios induced increased activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) and presupplementary motor area (preSMA), which have been linked to response inhibition. Notably, in right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) we found both higher blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) activation and synchronization of theta-alpha activities (4–12 Hz) in the BFS than in the traditional scenario after the stop signal. The higher activation of rTPJ in the BFS may be related to morality judgments or attentional reorienting. These results provided new insights into the complex brain networks involved in inhibitory control within naturalistic environments.

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Social networks function as an important safety net in developing countries, which often lack formal financial instruments. Such networks are also an important source of information in developing countries with relatively low access to the Internet and literacy rates. We review the empirical literature that uses explicit social network data collected in developing countries. We focus on social networks as conduits for both monetary transfers and information. We also briefly discuss the network-formation literature and comment on data collection strategies, mentioning some areas we believe to be especially ripe for future study.

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Purpose Drawing on mood regulation theories, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of employees’ coworker-helping behaviors (OCB-Is) on the relationships between prior negative affect and subsequent job satisfaction and creative performance. The authors hypothesize that employees’ work competence is a moderator of the relation between negative affect and OCB-Is. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected by the experience sampling method of self-rating (twice per day) and coworker-rating (once per day) over two weeks by 120 administrative employees and their coworkers in a university; 743 available days were obtained. Findings Multilevel modeling showed that self-rated negative affect during the morning was associated with coworker-rated OCB-Is during the afternoon; OCB-Is were positively associated with self-rated job satisfaction and coworker-rated creative performance during the afternoon; based on an indirect effect, OCB-Is mediated the relationships between negative affect and job satisfaction, and negative affect and creative performance; and employees with high-level work competences tended to engage in OCB-Is more than employees with low-level work competences when experiencing negative affect. Originality/value These findings suggest that OCB-Is create a positive reaction by converting negative affect into positive job satisfaction and creative performance and that employees’ work competence is the boundary condition.

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