We investigate the role of affect and deliberation on social preferences. In our laboratory experiment subjects decide on a series of mini Dictator games while they are under varying degrees of cognitive load. The cognitive load is intended to decrease deliberation and therefore enhance the...

An apology is a strong and cheap device to restore social or economic relationships thathave been disturbed. In a laboratory experiment we find that harmdoers use apologies inparticular if they fear punishment and when their intentions cannot be easily inferred. Afteroffenses with ambiguous...

A small lie appears trivial but it obviously violates moral commandments. We analyze whetherthe preference for others’ truth telling is absolute or depends on the size of a lie. In a laboratoryexperiment we compare punishment for different sizes of lies controlling for the resultingeconomic...

Machiavelli advises against delegating the distribution of favors. We test this claim in anexperiment, in which an investor can directly transfer money to a trustee or delegate thisdecision to another investor. Varying the value of the transfers of the investor and thedelegate, we find that the...

People self-assess their relative ability when making career choices. Thus, confidence in own abilities is likely an important factor for selection into various career paths. In a sample of 711 first-year students we examine whether there are systematic differences in confidence levels across...

This study investigates the selection into lab experiments among university students based on data from two cohorts of a university's first-year students. The analysis combines two experiments: a classroom experiment in which we elicited measures for risk, time, social preferences, confidence,...

This study investigates the selection into lab experiments among university students based on data from two cohorts of a university's first-year students. The analysis combines two experiments: a classroom experiment in which we elicited measures for risk, time, social preferences, confidence,...