Eventi del

23 2018 12:45
Sala riunioni 3.e4.sr03 - Via Roentgen, 1

Theory and Experiments Seminar Series

Biases Over Biased Information Structures: Confirmation, Contradiction and Certainty Seeking Behavior in the Laboratory

Gary Charness (University of California Santa Barbara)

Abstract

We study choices among information structures that are characterized by different biases. Bias
is introduced via either distortion, through possibility of false reports as in cheap talk games of
Crawford and Sobel (1982), or via filtering, through possibility of strategic omission of information
as in disclosure games of Milgrom and Roberts (1986). The experimental design exploits
how the optimal information structure depends on ones prior and the form of the bias- filtering
or distortion. Typing subjects based on their choices in a series of questions spanning these
cases, we nd strong evidence for confirmation, contradiction and certainty seeking behavior.
This is particularly surprising given that traditional explanations for confirmation or contradiction
seeking behavior are shut down in our design. Finally, we do not observe bias in choices
over information structures to be correlated with biases in how signals are later interpreted. We
discuss implications of our results in the context of political information and the role of media
bias.

 

Joint with BELSS (Bocconi Experimental Laboratory for the Social Sciences) and IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research)