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Luke_A_Somers comments on [link] Are All Dictator Game Results Artifacts? - Less Wrong Discussion

15 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 23 May 2013 07:08AM

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Comment author: Luke_A_Somers 23 May 2013 12:15:27PM 11 points [-]

Simply saying 'you could share it with this guy' is not like the other case, because the two people haven't been called out as special. You don't share windfall with everyone you meet, why should this guy be different? In the DG, the other player was brought into the game and spent time waiting around just like you. It calls them out.

I'm trying to find a way of constructing a closely analogous situation without self-consciousness, and am having a tough time.

Comment author: Unnamed 23 May 2013 05:58:28PM 6 points [-]

Perhaps something like this: participant & confederate are waiting at the bus stop. Guy with chips approaches them in a hurry and says "I'm late for my ride to the airport, does someone want my chips?" Participant & confederate both say that they do and move closer to the guy with chips (confederate attempts to act similarly to the participant). Guy with chips hands them all to the participant (who is perhaps slightly closer), says "here, take them - you can share them with the other guy if you want", and rushes off.

That way the confederate is someone who has been through essentially the same experience as the participant up until the moment the participant was handed the chips. He is not just some guy who happened to be standing nearby.

Comment author: HungryHobo 24 May 2013 12:11:44PM 1 point [-]

problem: this introduces social pressure and possible consequences( this person might recognize you in future and penalize you in the same way), part of the dictator game is that you don't have to look the person who you're splitting the cash with in the eye.

Comment author: [deleted] 24 May 2013 04:08:53PM -2 points [-]

You don't share windfall with everyone you meet

I usually do.

Well, for some value of “share”, “windfall”, “everyone”, and “meet”, at least.