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

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

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

Experimenting over a Long Distance - A method to facilitate intercultural experiments

We report a new method for Experimenting over a Long Distance (ELD)allowing to simultaneously run decentralized interactive experiments in geographically separated subject pools. Applying ELD to an intercultural trust experiment with participants from Argentina, China and Germany we found a striking evidence for transcontinental trust behavior. In addition to Chinese senders’ discrimination of Argentinean players no discrimination in trust and reciprocity behavior was observed. Neverthe- less, we found significantly different levels of trust and reciprocity in the different national cultures.interactive intercultural experiments, investment game, trust

On cooperation and trust in strategic games : Behavioral Evidence from the Middle East and Europe

This thesis is about selected issues of cooperation and trust in strategic games. This first chapter paper investigates the impact of game presentation on cooperation dependent on subject-pool affiliation. Two cooperation games representing the same logical and strategical decision problem are introduced. Accomplishing a cross-cultural experimental study involving subjects from Abu-Dis (West Bank), Chengdu (China), Helsinki (Finland), and Jerusalem (Israel) we test for a strategic presentation bias applying these two conditions. Subjects in Abu-Dis and Chengdu show a substantially higher cooperation level in the positive externality treatment. In Helsinki and Jerusalem no presentation effect is observed. The same findings hold for associated first-order beliefs. Critically discussing our results, we argue that comparisons across subject-pools might lead to only partially meaningful and opposed conclusions if only one treatment condition is evaluated. In chapter two three studies predict and find that the individual's conformism values are one determinant of whether behavior is guided by other personal values or by social norms. In study one, pro-gay law reform participants are told they were either in a minority or a majority in terms of their attitude towards the law reform. Only participants who are high in conformism values conform to the group norm on public behavior intentions. In studies two and three, participants play multiple choice prisoner's dilemma games. Only participants who consider conformism values to be relatively unimportant show the expected connections between universalism values and cooperative behavior. Study three also establishes that the moderating effect of conformism values on the relation between universalism values and cooperative behavior is mediated through experienced sense of moral obligation. In chapter three we study the influence of ethnocentrism on both trusting and reciprocity behavior. We find levels of trust, and partly of reciprocity, to differ significantly in the three subject pools with high Palestinian and low Israeli transfer amounts. The most startling result is the fact that players' beliefs match well the actual behavior of their counterparts from their own country but that they are wrong in predicting the behavior of players located in other countries. Moreover, only slight discrimination among involved cultural groups is found. The data presented support the view that a conflict might not only be triggered by discrimination but may also be enforced by the specific social standards within different societies and ethnocentric biases in beliefs and actions. In chapter four we experimentally investigate whether job seekers or employees holding a criminal record are less trusted and expected to be less trustworthy compared to not previously convicted workers. In addition, we compare employers' discriminative behavior against ex-offenders with their attitudes against other potential target groups of discrimination as foreigners, women, or elder workers. Our results give substantial support for a clear disadvantage of previously convicted and foreign employees who are less preferred for employment and paid significantly lower wages. However, we find associated beliefs about convicted and foreign employees' reciprocity not to play a primary role in interactions with them. We can also show that employers' discrimination against ex-felons is mainly taste based or avoidance driven. Contrary, foreign workers are basically avoided by employers. For females and males the evidence is mixed: Employers slightly preferred females for hire and paid them higher wages. We suggest investing in prison inmates' education, its certification, as well as signalling it adequately

It pays to pay - Big Five personality influences on co-operative behaviour in an incentivized and hypothetical prisoner's dilemma game

The authors investigated how the presence or absence of monetary incentives in a prisoner's dilemma game may influence research outcomes. Specifically, the predictive power of the Big Five personality traits on decisions in an incentivized (N = 60) or hypothetical (N = 60) prisoner's dilemma game was investigated. Participants were less generous in the incentivized game. More importantly, personality predicted decisions only in the incentivized game, with low Neuroticism and high Openness to Experience predicting more cooperative transfers. The influence of Neuroticism on behaviour in the incentivized game was mediated by risk attitude. The results are consistent with other results suggesting that the Big Five are relevant predictors of moral behaviour, and with results suggesting that the determinants of hypothetical decisions are different from the determinants of real decisions, with the latter being more revealing of one's true preferences. The authors argue that psychologists, contrary to prevailing praxis, should consider making their participants' decisions more real. This could allow psychologists to more convincingly generalize laboratory findings into contexts outside of the laboratory.Big Five, Prisoner's dilemma, Social dilemma, Moral behaviour, Incentives, Stake size

Clinical evaluation of new diagnostic tests and development of testing strategies for tuberculosis diagnosis in Africa

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to kill more than 1.5 Mio people every year and causes a significant morbidity burden in the about 9 Mio patients who survived this infectious disease. Rapid and accurate TB diagnosis is considered one cornerstone of the global fight against TB. The “End TB Strategy” of the World Health Organization (WHO) is enforcing the need to develop new TB diagnostic tests, which are addressing the shortcomings of standard diagnostic tests that are currently used in TB epidemic and resource constrained settings like sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, to improved diagnostic tests, innovate testing strategies are needed to detect TB and control TB transmissions within specific risk groups such as prisoners, children and also TB contacts. In the frame of the presented habilitation project, three new diagnostic tests, namely the new Xpert MTB/RIF assay, which was endorsed by WHO in 2010, and two urine- based LAM tests, were evaluated in various clinical diagnostic studies in Tanzania. Further, a cross-sectional TB prevalence study was conducted in 13 Ethiopian prisons to study risk factors for TB in inmates and how successful currently implemented diagnostics algorithms are to detect TB in detention facilities. Finally, the isolated TB strains from these research studies were further analyzed using genotyping techniques in order to analyse mechanisms of TB transmission, spread of drug resistance and pathogenicity of TB strains in different high TB risk populations in Africa. For the Xpert MTB/RIF evaluation, the studies included adult and pediatric cohorts of patients with suspicion of TB. Further, the Xpert MTB/RIF assay was evaluated in a study with household contacts of smear-positive TB patients. Finally, the assay´s capacity to monitor TB treatment was assessed in TB patients who were enrolled in a therapeutic drug trial. The results of these studies contributed relevant information on the diagnostic accuracy of the assay and are also reflected by the current Xpert MTB/RIF policy recommendations from WHO. The most relevant findings were that Xpert MTB/RIF had a significant higher sensitivity compared to smear microscopy and detected up to 60% of smear negative, culture positive adult and paediatric TB cases. Xpert MTB/RIF performs equally well in HIV-positive and HIV-negative TB suspects and only one test in adults is sufficient to reach almost maximal sensitivity. Due to easy handling, rapid availability of test results and good performance in field conditions, the Xpert MTB/RIF test should be considered as the preferred test in contact tracing scenarios in Tanzania. However, due to sustained positive Xpert MTB/RIF results until the end of antimicrobial therapy in up to 27% of smear-positive TB patients, this assay is not useful to monitor microbiological response to TB treatment. The diagnostic capacity of the two LAM-assays was evaluated in a cohort of children with presumed TB. This study showed that LAM-sensitivity was highest, with maximal 70%, in HIV positive TB cases but had poor sensitivity, 28%, in HIV-negative TB suspects. Importantly, those groups of children suffering most from (co-) morbidities and high mortality were more likely to be LAM-positive. Therefore, specifically HIV-positive children with presumed active TB infection and advanced morbidity might benefit most from urine LAM-testing. This is in line with current WHO recommendations on the use of urine-based LAM tests. However, further scientific evidence is needed for a final evaluation of the use of LAM tests for the diagnosis of TB in clinical routine in Africa. The prison studies revealed that TB prevalence with about 450 TB cases among 100.000 convicts was twice as large as in the standard Ethiopian population. About 30% of existing TB cases were not detected by the prison health staff, whereby half on these were smear negative. Risk factors for TB in prisons were related to subject characteristics and behavior (e.g. alcohol drinking and TB contact at home) as well as to prison capacities (e.g. windows in prison cells). Genotypic analyses revealed that TB strains from prisoners were forming joint clusters with TB strains isolated from the Ethiopian standard population. These findings support the concept of interrelated TB epidemics among populations inside and outside prisons. Both sides need to be addressed in TB control programmes, and e.g. systematic and comprehensive TB screenings among new prisoners at entry as well as long-term prisoners might be an important strategy in order to end TB in high risk populations in Africa

Looking for Bubbe: The Remembered and Forgotten Jewish World in Heritage Tourism

Joan and Henry Katz Lecture in Judaic Studies. [Speaker] Daniel J. Walkowitz, PhD. Emeritus professor of history and of social & cultural analysis at New York University, author of The Remembered and Forgotten Jewish World.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/bennettcenter-posters/1353/thumbnail.jp

Nowe studia modernistyczne

The main task of this article is to describe the new situation of modernist studies at the turn of the 20th century and an attempt to position this description in a broader history of criticism of modernism in art. The transformations in the studies into modernist literature have been characterized here in three aspects: expanding the time frame (going beyond the basic period of modernism from the end of the 19th c. until 1930s), spatial dimension (abandonment of a privileged position of research into West European and American modernism in favour of a transnational perspective) and vertical dimension (connected with the necessity to rethink the relationship high art-low art, and also the influence of mass media upon modernist literature)

Lying and Team Incentives

We investigate the influence of two widespread compensation schemes, individual piece-rates and team incentives, on participants' inclination to lie, by adapting the experimental setup of Fischbacher and Heusi (2008). Lying turns out to be more pronounced under team incentives than under individual piece-rates, which highlights a so far fairly neglected feature of these compensation schemes.compensation schemes, lying, team, experiment