Decisions on Extending Group Membership—Evidence from a Public Good Experiment

We experimentally compare the consequences for group cooperation of two decision mechanisms involving the extension of group membership. We analyze an exogenous decision (random draw) and an endogenous decision (made by a particular group member) mechanism to extend a temporary agent’s group membership. Our results reveal that the prospect of group membership extension affects not only the temporary but also the permanent group members’ contributions with an endogenous mechanism.

What Comes to Mind?

When solving problems, like making predictions or choices, people often “sample” possibilities into mind. Here, we consider whether there is structure to the kinds of thoughts people sample by default—that is, without an explicit goal. Across three experiments we found that what comes to mind by default are samples from a probability distribution that combines what people think is likely and what they think is good. Experiment 1 found that the first quantities that come to mind for everyday behaviors and events are quantities that combine what is average and ideal. Experiment 2 found, in a manipulated context, that the distribution of numbers that come to mind resemble the mathematical product of the presented statistical distribution and a (softmax-transformed) prescriptive distribution. Experiment 3 replicated these findings in a visual domain. These results provide insight into the process generating people’s conscious thoughts and invite new questions about the value of thinking about things that are both likely and good.

Influences of Online Negative Word of Mouth on Purchase Intention

This study presents two experiments that examine the influence of electronic negative word of mouth (e-NWOM). Experiment 1 investigated perceived credibility based on 2 (product awareness: high / low) × 2 (strength of WOM: high / low) × 2 (product type: search good / experience good). Experiment 2 investigated purchase intention based on 2 (product utility: high / low). The experiments involved 530 people from Taiwan. The results indicated that high product awareness and weak e-WOM have less influence on consumer perceived credibility of the e-WOM. E-NWOM for a search good has less influence on consumer perceived credibility than for an experience good. The results also indicated that high utility of products increase sales.