The frames behind the games: Player's perceptions of prisoners dilemma, chicken, dictator, and ultimatum games

Butler, D.J., Burbank, V. and Chisholm, J. (2011) The frames behind the games: Player's perceptions of prisoners dilemma, chicken, dictator, and ultimatum games. Journal of Socio-Economics, 40 (2). pp. 103-114.

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Abstract

The tension between cooperative and selfish impulses is a challenge for every society. But how is this problem perceived by individual participants in the context of a behavioral games experiment? We first assess individual differences in players’ propensity to cooperate or defect in a series of experimental games. We then use open-ended interviews with a subset of those players to investigate the various concepts (or ‘frames’) they use when thinking about self-interested and cooperative actions. More generally, we hope to raise awareness of player’s perceptions of experimental environments to inform both the design and interpretation of experiments and experimental data.