Norms in an asymmetric Public Good experiment

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of the Right Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Changes a priori Normative Beliefs in Voluntary Cooperation

“…Conditional cooperation can be considered as a motivation on its own or a consequence of some fairness preferences, such as “altruism,” “warm glow,” “inequity aversion,” or “reciprocity” ( Fischbacher et al, 2001 ). Experiments on conditional cooperation found that subjects usually contribute similarly to their co-players ( Keser and Winden, 2000 ; Brandts and Schram, 2004 ; Kocher et al, 2007 ; Spiller et al, 2016 ) and are willing to contribute to a PG when others also contribute or are expected to do so ( Fischbacher and Gächter, 2010 ). For example, the studies of Fischbacher and Gächter (2010) on conditional cooperation indicate that individual cooperation often depends on whether a person thinks others cooperate.…”

“…On the one hand, some subjects must at least know of social norms and follow them ( Elster, 1989 ; Bicchieri, 2006 ). On the other hand, participants may feel that their partners may not follow a norm even if it exists ( Reuben and Riedl, 2009 ; Spiller et al, 2016 ). In either case, the subject needs to infer from the belief of others.…”

“…According to the definition of Spiller et al (2016) , belief to infer “what others do” is a kind of a priori normative beliefs. Previous studies provided evidence by showing that people contribute more to a PG when they expect others to contribute more as well ( Kachelmeier and Shehata, 1997 ; Croson, 2007 ).…”

“…The results suggested that anodal/cathodal tDCS increases/decreases participants’ judgment of “right contribution” (i.e., the amount individual ought to contribute) in opposite directions unlike in the sham group. Spiller et al (2016) proved that a priori normative beliefs were also influenced by the “right contribution.” Relying on the results and analyses presented above, we can conjecture that if a priori normative beliefs are influenced by the norm in other people’s heads, then stimulating the same brain region (i.e., rLPFC) should also affect the a priori normative beliefs. Accordingly, we assume that if anodal/cathodal tDCS is applied to increase/decrease the activities of the rLPFC, the participants’ a priori normative beliefs will be changed.…”

The Force of Norms? The Internal Point of View in Light of Experimental Economics

“…It might therefore seem that your expectations drive my behaviour; in fact, I just assume shared standards that are themselves unobservable. This is all the more problematic due to the fact that personal and second‐order normative beliefs seem to be highly correlated (Andrighetto, Grieco, and Tummolini ), and in some cases only personal norms end up being a significant influence on decisions (Spiller et al ). Surely, one will not perfectly explain the other, but the independent influence of expectations could be insignificant.…”