Reference Dependence and Attribution Bias: Evidence from Real-Effort Experimentst

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bushong, Benjamin; Gagnon-Bartsch, Tristan
• 署名单位: Michigan State University; State University System of Florida; Florida State University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7669
• DOI: 10.1257/mic.20210031
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 271-308
• 关键词: reference points; decision-making; prospect-theory; expectations; MODEL; disappointment; satisfaction; preferences; aversion; exchange

摘要

We document a form of attribution bias wherein people wrongly ascribe sensations of positive or negative surprise to the underly-ing disutility of a real-effort task. Participants in our experiments learned from experience about two unfamiliar tasks, one more onerous than the other. We manipulated expectations about which task they would face: some participants were assigned their task by chance, while others knew their assignment in advance. Hours later, we elicited willingness to work again on that same task. Participants assigned the less (more) onerous task by chance were more (less) willing to work than those who knew their assignment in advance. (JEL C91, D84, D91, M54)