In reciprocal interactions, both genuine kindness and self-interested material gain may motivate socially beneficial actions. The paper presents results from two experiments that distinguish the role of perceived motives in reciprocal decision making from the role of outcomes or perceived...

This paper reviews some of the economic experimental evidence on conformism. There is nothing to match the early psychology experiments where subjects were often swayed by the behaviour of others to an extraordinary degree, but there is plenty of evidence of conformism. This seems built-in to...

In this article we provide a brief account and interpretation of The Theory of Moral Sentiments showing that it departs fundamentally from contemporary patterns of thought in economics that are believed to govern individual behavior in small groups, and contains strong testable propositions...

We utilize a modified dictator game to analyze whether information about the need of recipients affects dictator giving behavior. Need information is presented as objective information about the recipients' living circumstances (income, public transfers, and travel time to the lab) and...

People often conform to others either pro-socially or self-interestedly. By conducting modified dictator game experiments where subjects observe others’ behaviors, this study analyzes how observational learning influences subjects’ conforming/non-conforming and pro-social/self-interested...

The issue surrounding brand image is always fascinating to ponder. This is true not only for products/services, but also for organizations and individuals. Like it or not, individuals are prone toward creating brand image to excel in life. From the understanding on products/services, personal...

In fractional ownership markets, consumers purchase a share in a property and can later exchange it with other owners through a secondary market. Forward-looking consumers may purchase low quality shares at a low price with the intention of trading up. This poses a serious problem. We show that...