Expectations and outcome: The role of Proposer features in the Ultimatum Game

Abstract

In social decision-making individuals make choices in an interactive context and their decisions may therefore be influenced by information they receive about features of the other player. These features may 'frame' the other player in particular ways and generate expectations about the outcome. This research examines the impact of information about the Proposer on the Responder's decision in the Ultimatum Game (UG). Two-hundred and forty undergraduates played the UG after being provided with different descriptions of the Proposer's (no information, physical description, psychological description). The results show that acceptance rates are significantly influenced by both offer fairness as well as the type of description. These results support the relevance of the expectation effects due to the framing in social decision making.Expectations Framing Cognitive dissonance Social decision-making Ultimatum Game