Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation?

Frank, Robert H.; Gilovich, Thomas; Regan, Dennis T.

doi:10.1257/jep.7.2.159

Cited by 1,231 publications

(715 citation statements)

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“…Even high-quality education that includes training in formal methods and critical thinking can have problematic effects. For instance, several studies indicate that the study of economics makes students on average more selfish than they were before (Frank et al 1993;Rubinstein 2005). [Higher education may also increase the risk of becoming a professor or university don-a profession characterized by E. Friedell as involving ''a slow metabolism, a sluggish bowel, a penchant for gradualist doctrines, and pedantry'' (Kolnai 1976).…”

Section: Safetymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Enhancement: Methods, Ethics, Regulatory Challenges

2009

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Cognitive enhancement takes many and diverse forms. Various methods of cognitive enhancement have implications for the near future. At the same time, these technologies raise a range of ethical issues. For example, they interact with notions of authenticity, the good life, and the role of medicine in our lives. Present and anticipated methods for cognitive enhancement also create challenges for public policy and regulation.

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Section: Safetymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Enhancement: Methods, Ethics, Regulatory Challenges

2009

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“…There is evidence from laboratory experiments that economics and business students behave more selfishly than other people (Frank et al, 1993;Frank and Schulze, 2000), but also that the major does not matter with respect to selfish behavior (Frey and Meier, 2002). Moreover, men have been shown to hold slightly more optimistic self-efficacy beliefs than women (Wilson et al, 2007).…”

Section: --------------------------------Figure 3 -------------------mentioning

confidence: 99%

The good, the bad, and the talented: Entrepreneurial talent and selfish behavior

Weitzel

Urbig

Desai

et al. 2015

Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives

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Abstract:Talent allocation models assume that entrepreneurially talented people are selfish and thus allocate into unproductive or even destructive activities if these offer the highest private returns. This paper experimentally analyzes selfish preferences of the entrepreneurially talented. We find that making a distinction between creative talent and business talent explains systematic differences in selfish behavior. Generally, both the less business talented and the more creative are more willing to forego private payoffs to avoid losses to others. A moderator analysis reveals that less creative individuals with business talent are significantly more selfish than all others, including the creative with business talent. This finding applies to both certain and risky payoffs with and without negative externalities. The paper makes a contribution to entrepreneurship research by qualifying the implications of talent allocation models and highlighting the importance of distinguishing between the two types of entrepreneurial talent. We also add to the field of experimental economics by advancing research on altruism under risk and with negative externalities.

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“…The bulk of experimental research has revealed that competitive strategies are preferred in such ''one-shot''-settings, at least in nations with an individualistic cultural tradition (Boone & van Witteloostuijn, 1999). The baseline strategy, however, also depends on the players' educational background: economics students, for instance, tend to compete much more often than their colleagues studying other majors (Frank, Gilovich, & Regan, 1993). In the second game, we manipulated the reputation of the other (fictitious) party by suggesting that this party was trustworthy because (s)he had made cooperative choices in each of the 12 rounds in the previous encounter (i.e.…”

Section: Gamesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Locus of control and learning to cooperate in a prisoner's dilemma game

Boone

Brabander

Carree

et al. 2002

Personality and Individual Differences

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Boone et al. (Boone, C., De Brabander, B., & van Witteloostuijn, A. (1999a). Locus of control and strategic behaviour in a prisoner's dilemma game. Personality and Individual Differences, 27, 695-706;Boone, C., De Brabander, B., & van Witteloostuijn, A. (1999b). The impact of personality on behaviour in five Prisoner's Dilemma games, Journal of Economic Psychology, 20, showed that subjects with an internal locus of control were, on average, more cooperative in a prisoner's dilemma (PD) game than subjects with an external locus of control. They conjectured that this finding should not be interpreted as evidence for stable differences in cooperative behaviour between internals and externals. Specifically, they suggested that it is the capacity to adapt to different circumstances over time that distinguishes internals from externals. In the present study we want to investigate the validity of this proposition. We argue that in a PD setting individuals gradually learn to understand the subtle interplay between cooperation and selfinterest. Repetition and learning breed cooperation because people learn to understand that cooperation is instrumental in obtaining long-run profit. There is, however, good reason to believe that individuals differ as to the speed of learning to cooperate. We hypothesise that internals are more astute in learning to cooperate in a PD game because they are more endowed with the cognitive faculties necessary for quick learning than externals. Our empirical findings indeed reveal that externals play less cooperatively, on average, in the first part of a series of PD games. However, this difference gradually disappears. In fact, the experiment suggests that learning and repetition reduce the impact of individual differences. By way of appraisal, implications for further research are discussed. #

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Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation?

Cited by 1,231 publications

References 5 publications

Cognitive Enhancement: Methods, Ethics, Regulatory Challenges

Cognitive Enhancement: Methods, Ethics, Regulatory Challenges

The good, the bad, and the talented: Entrepreneurial talent and selfish behavior

Locus of control and learning to cooperate in a prisoner's dilemma game

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