Presentation Effects in Cross-Cultural Experiments - An Experimental Framework for Comparisons

This paper investigates the impact of game presentation dependent on ethnical affiliation. Two games representing the same logical and strategical problem are introduced. Presented games are continuous prisoner’s dilemma games where decision makers can choose an individual level of cooperation from a given range of possible actions. In the first condition, a positive transfer creates a positive externality for the opposite player. In the second condition, this externality is negative. Accomplishing a cross-cultural experimental study involving subjects from the West Bank and Jerusalem (Israel) we test for a strategic presentation bias applying these two conditions. Subjects in the West Bank show a substantially higher cooperation level in the positive externality treatment. In Jerusalem no presentation effect is observed. Critically discussing our findings, we argue that a cross-cultural comparison leads to only partially meaningful and opposed results if only one treatment condition is evaluated. We therefore suggest a complementary application and consideration of different presentations of identical decision problems within cross-cultural research.Cooperation, presentation of decision problems, framing, methodology, cross-cultural research

On the Prevalence of Framing Effects Across Subject-Pools in a Two- Person Cooperation Game

In this experimental study, involving subjects from Abu-Dis (West Bank), Chengdu (China), Helsinki (Finland), and Jerusalem (Israel), we test for a presentation bias in a two-person cooperation game. In the positive frame of the game, a transfer creates a positive externality for the opposite player, and in the negative frame, a negative one. Subjects in Abu-Dis and Chengdu show a substantially higher cooperation level in the positive externality treatment. In Helsinki and Jerusalem, no framing effect is observed. These findings are also reflected in associated first-order beliefs. We argue that comparisons across subject-pools might lead to only partially meaningful and opposed conclusions if only one treatment condition is evaluated. We therefore suggest a complementary application and consideration of different presentations of identical decision problems within (cross-cultural) research on subject-pool differences.framing of decision problems, methodology, subject-pool differences

The Janus Face of Cooperation - An Intra- and Cross-Cultural Review

This paper introduces a two-sided methodological framework for   studies on cooperation based on a new game design. Presented games are continuous prisoner's   dilemma games with positive and negative presentations of an identically structured   decision problem. Decision makers can choose an individual level of cooperation from a   given range of possible actions. Within a cross-cultural experimental study involving   Palestinian and Israeli subjects we test for a strategic presentation bias applying our   framework. Palestinians show a substantially higher cooperation level in the positive externality   treatment. In Israel no presentation effect is observed. Critically discussing our findings,   we argue that cross-cultural comparison leads to only partially meaningful and opposed results if   only one treatment condition is evaluated. We therefore suggest a complementary   application and consideration of different presentations of identical   decision problems within cross-cultural research.Cooperation , presentation of decision problems, framing, methodology, cross-cultural research

Direct SUSY dark matter detection-Theoretical rates due to the spin

The recent WMAP data have confirmed that exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy (cosmological constant) dominate in the flat Universe. Thus the direct dark matter detection, consisting of detecting the recoiling nucleus, is central to particle physics and cosmology. Supersymmetry provides a natural dark matter candidate, the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). The relevant cross sections arise out of two mechanisms: i) The coherent mode, due to the scalar interaction and ii) The spin contribution arising from the axial current. In this paper we will focus on the spin contribution, which is expected to dominate for light targets. For both modes it is possible to obtain detectable rates, but in most models the expected rates are much lower than the present experimental goals. So one should exploit two characteristic signatures of the reaction, namely the modulation effect and, in directional experiments, the correlation of the event rates with the sun's motion. In standard non directional experiments the modulation is small, less than two per cent. In the case of the directional event rates we like to suggest that the experiments exploit two features, of the process, which are essentially independent of the SUSY model employed, namely: 1) The forward-backward asymmetry, with respect to the sun's direction of motion, is very large and 2) The modulation is much larger, especially if the observation is made in a plane perpendicular to the sun's velocity. In this case the difference between maximum and minimum can be larger than 40 per cent and the phase of the Earth at the maximum is direction dependent.Comment: 16 Latex pages, 15 figures, 3 table