American Economic Journal:
Microeconomics
ISSN 1945-7669 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7685 (Online)
Reference Dependence and Attribution Bias: Evidence from Real-Effort Experiments
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
vol. 15,
no. 2, May 2023
(pp. 271–308)
Abstract
We document a form of attribution bias wherein people wrongly ascribe sensations of positive or negative surprise to the underlying 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.Citation
Bushong, Benjamin, and Tristan Gagnon-Bartsch. 2023. "Reference Dependence and Attribution Bias: Evidence from Real-Effort Experiments." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 15 (2): 271–308. DOI: 10.1257/mic.20210031Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C91 Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual
- D84 Expectations; Speculations
- D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
- M54 Personnel Economics: Labor Management
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