The Potential of Social Identity for Equilibrium Selection

2011 ◽  
Vol 101 (6) ◽  
pp. 2562-2589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Chen ◽  
Yan Chen

When does a common group identity improve efficiency in coordination games? To answer this question, we propose a group-contingent social preference model and derive conditions under which social identity changes equilibrium selection. We test our predictions in the minimum-effort game in the laboratory under parameter configurations which lead to an inefficient low-effort equilibrium for subjects with no group identity. For those with a salient group identity, consistent with our theory, we find that learning leads to ingroup coordination to the efficient high-effort equilibrium. Additionally, our theoretical framework reconciles findings from a number of coordination game experiments. (JEL C71, C91, D71)

2020 ◽  
Vol 130 (629) ◽  
pp. 1248-1261
Author(s):  
Gary E Bolton ◽  
Johannes Mans ◽  
Axel Ockenfels

Abstract The provision of trader feedback is critical to the functioning of many markets. We examine the influence of group identity on the volunteering and informativeness of feedback. In a market experiment conducted simultaneously in Germany and the United States, we manipulate the interaction of traders based on natural social and induced home market identities. Traders are more likely to provide feedback information on a trader with whom they share a common group identity, and the effect is more pronounced for social identity than for home market identity. Both kinds of group identity promote rewarding good performance and punishing bad performance.


Author(s):  
David Muchlinski

Despite international guarantees to respect religious freedom, governments around the world often impose substantial restrictions on the abilities of some religious groups to openly practice their faith. These regulations on religious freedom are often justified to promote social stability. However, research has demonstrated a positive correlation between restrictions on religious freedom and religious violence. This violence is often thought to be a result of grievances arising from the denial of a religious group’s right to openly practice its faith. These grievances encourage violence by (a) encouraging a sense of common group identity, (b) encouraging feelings of hostility toward groups imposing those regulations, and (c) facilitating the mobilization of religious resources for political violence.


2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (S1) ◽  
pp. S137-S163 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Burcu Bayram

AbstractWhy are some politicians guided by a sense of obligation toward international law but others are not? Why do some politicians have a social as opposed to an egoistic preference over compliance with international legal rules? Existing approaches largely assume that the structural features of the compliance environment shape preferences. As a result, they neglect the heterogeneity across decision makers' subjective beliefs in the legitimacy of international law, which is critical for explaining who exhibits a sense of obligation and has a non-egoistic preference for compliance. Drawing upon a large body of psychological research on social identity and influence, I argue that obligation toward international law has a behavioral foundation shaped by cosmopolitan social identity. Using data from an original survey of German politicians that includes two compliance experiments, I show that politicians with a high degree of cosmopolitanism are driven by a sense of legal obligation that results in a social preference for compliance while those low on cosmopolitanism lack the same sense of normative respect. Replicated in a second experimental study conducted with a convenience sample, my results indicate that strategic rationality in compliance applies, but only to a particular set of actors. By illuminating the psychological underpinnings of obligation toward international law, this study contributes to a richer understanding of compliance preferences and builds a bridge between instrumental and normative models.


2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
pp. 840-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Michelle Brock ◽  
Andreas Lange ◽  
Erkut Y. Ozbay

In Brock, Lange, and Ozbay (2013), we experimentally investigate social preferences under risk. One of our conclusions is that a social preference model incorporating both ex ante and ex post fairness concerns may best describe behavior. Krawczyk and Le Lec (2016 ) argue that ex ante comparisons alone may account for our data. We address their points in this reply. (JEL C72, D63, D64, D81)


Author(s):  
Peruvemba Jaya

The study is focused on understanding identity construction through combining my own experience with the theoretical underpinnings of postcolonial theory, social identity theory and through the examination of two films. The central question that I am interested in is understanding the identity construction and formation process especially as it relates to individuals who have crossed borders and immigrated or moved to countries other than their home countries. The methodology I am employing is auto-ethnography; I am integrating this by using two films as sites of inquiry. Through this introspective, reflection combined with the theoretical framework of identity I uncover themes of identity. These themes include nation, foreignness, community, and home.


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