Mindreading and Manipulation in an Ecology of Prisoner’s Dilemma Games: Laboratory Experiments

Synopsis Humans have a rational reason to seek out and selectively play Prisoner’s Dilemma games with others who (for whatever reason) will play cooperatively, while avoiding those who will defect. It follows that they also have reason to try and persuade others that they will personally cooperate if a game is joined (using the term from Evolutionary Psychology, to ‘manipulate’ others’ beliefs) and, thus, to penetrate to the truth underlying such efforts (to ‘mindread’ others intentions). We develop an economic model of mindreading and manipulation that can govern exchange relationships in natural circumstances, and report laboratory data showing that, absent constraining institutions that make play with cooperators likely, intending defectors are more likely to be chosen as partners than are intending cooperators. Intending defectors’ efforts at manipulation appear to be more successful than their potential victims’ efforts at mindreading. The findings suggest the nature of the problem that must be addressed for would-be traders in the absence of well-enforced rules governing contracts, and we discuss the patterns of behavior that are likely responses in such circumstances.     

Social Preferences in the Lab: A Comparison of Students and a Representative Population

We report from a lab experiment conducted with a sample of participants that is nationally representative for the adult population in Norway and two student samples (economics students and non‐economics students). The participants make choices both in a dictator game (a non‐strategic environment) and in a generalized trust game (a strategic environment). We find that the representative sample differs fundamentally from the student samples, both in the relative importance assigned to different moral motives (efficiency, equity, and reciprocity) and in the level of selfish behavior. It is also interesting to note that the gender effects observed in the student samples do not correspond to the gender effects observed in representative sample. Finally, whereas economics students behave less pro‐socially than non‐economics students, the two student groups are similar in the relative importance they assign to different moral motives.     

来华留学生心理适应问题研究

随着来华留学生的规模不断扩大,有着不同文化背景和风俗习惯的留学生进入到一个新的环境,如何适应新环境将成为他们面临的第一个挑战。在新形势下,基于心理学相关理论,结合来华留学生所出现的心理问题,在实践中摸索行之有效的方法以解决来华留学生心理适应问题。     

Resources and Student Achievement—Evidence from a Swedish Policy Reform*

A policy change is used to estimate the effect of teacher density on student performance. We find that an increase in teacher density has a positive effect on student achievement. The baseline estimate—obtained by using the grade‐point average as the outcome variable—implies that resource increases corresponding to the class‐size reduction in the STAR experiment (a reduction of seven students) improves performance by 2.6 percentile ranks (or 0.08 standard deviations). When we used test‐score data for men, potentially a more objective measure of student performance, the effect of resources appears to be twice as large.     

谈学生社团对大学生就业创业的重要作用

一直以来,大学生就业难已经成为一种社会问题,大学生创业作为提高大学生就业率的一种重要且有效的方式,越来越受到社会的广泛关注。在高校,学生社团作为高校校园文化的主力军,应该大力倡导学生创业,并为其营造良好的创业环境及氛围。     

大学生英语学习动机及其激励措施分析

动机是学习的基本心理因素之一,是英语学习成败的关键。在大学英语教学中,影响学生英语学习动机的因素除了教师因素外还有学生等多因素。有针对性地采用适当的教学策略和措施,利用一定的诱因,激发和保持学生的英语学习动机。     

Cheating to win: Dishonesty and the intensity of competition

We argue that the intensity of competition within a group or organization can have an important influence on whether or not people cheat. To make this point we first work through a simple model of strategic misreporting in the workplace. For low and high levels of competition we show that, in equilibrium, few are predicted to misreport. It is for medium levels of competition that misreporting is predicted to be highest. We test this prediction experimentally and find good support for it. This finding has implications for the design of incentive structures within groups and organizations.     

The Overconfident Principles of Economics Student: An Examination of a Metacognitive Skill

Students in a large principles of macroeconomics class were asked to predict their performance on a regularly scheduled midterm examination. The author collected and analyzed data to examine the effect of various demographic characteristics, academic endowments, course preparation, and course performance variables on the accuracy of pretest expectations. A two-equation recursive model was estimated by the author to determine which factors influenced the accuracy of student expectations (predictive calibration). The results indicated that a pervasive degree of overconfidence existed within the sample. Although age and overall academic performance were found to temper overconfidence, students with credit in a previous economics course had a greater probability of reporting overconfident expectations. Overconfidence was found to be associated with lower degrees of predictive calibration. Misjudgments concerning the scope of the midterm were found to lower predictive calibration scores, ceteris paribus. These and other results indicate that unmet student performance expectations may be a root cause for the routinely observed student dissatisfaction within the traditional principles course.     

论民办高校大学生公德的缺失与养成

民办高校大学生的公德教育应尽旱抓起，长抓不懈。大学生的公德教育不是小事，“千里之堤，溃于蚁穴”，我们应该从大学生进校园那天起，就培养他们的公德意识和公德观念，让大学生把“诚实守信、勤俭节约、爱护公物、团结友善、遵纪守法”作为自己最高的行为准则，养成良好的公德，成为即掌握了科学知识和技能，又有良好公德的高素质人才。     

Student Assistance Schemes and the Supply of Highly Skilled Manpower: The Australian Experience*

In most countries national higher education systems provide the major source of supply of highly skilled manpower. Whilst supply from this source is a function of the demand for higher education places, their supply, and the internal efficiency and flexibility of higher education institutions, comparatively little is known of the relative importance of these determinants, what in turn determines them, and how they interreact. Any generalized answers to these questions will be strongly mitigated by institutional, demographic and socio-economic variations over time and between countries. This paper analyzes the influence of immediate financial variables, as important elements in the price of higher education, as they applied in the era of Commonwealth Scholarship Schemes in Australia.     

Temporary Disability Insurance and Labor Supply: Evidence from a Natural Experiment*

Most developed countries have compulsory insurance programs for temporary disability, that is, cash benefits for non‐work‐related sickness. Despite the economic significance of these programs, little is known about their effects on work absenteeism or labor supply. We exploit a policy reform that consisted of the abolishment of a waiting day together with an increase of cash benefits for short sick leaves. We find that the total number of days of sickness absence was reduced by the reform, which is likely due to the fact that the abolishment of the waiting period made it less costly for workers to be absent for short periods.     

Financial Student Aid and Enrollment in Higher Education: New Evidence from Germany*

Means‐tested student aid might affect enrollment in higher education. To derive the potential influence of student aid, we use a tax‐benefit microsimulation model. The effect is a non‐linear function of parental income, with variation as a result of bracket creeping and various reforms. Therefore, the effect of student aid on enrollment can be separated from the effects of income and other family characteristics. Using the German Socio‐Economic Panel, we find a small but significant positive effect, similar in size to the effects reported in previous studies for European countries but smaller than in the US.     

关注“90后”大学生思想特点创新高校思想政治教育方法

＂90后＂是当前大学生的主体,因成长环境的不同造成了其身上具有不同于70、80年代大学生的特性,这给高校思想政治教育带来了现实的挑战。思想政治教育者应根据＂90后＂的思想特点,创新思想政治教育方法,增强思想政治教育的针对性和实效性。     

Free‐Riding and the Provision of Public Goods in the Family: A Laboratory Experiment*

We examine the provision of family public goods using experimental economics methods. With sufficient altruism and shared resource arrangements, families can provide the efficient level of family public goods. Becker's Rotten Kid Theorem asserts that transfers from altruistic parents will induce children to maximize family income even if children are not altruistic toward other family members. Consistent with altruism, parents and children contributed more to a public good when in groups with family members than when in groups with strangers. In contrast to the predictions of the Rotten Kid Theorem, however, children's behavior fell short of maximizing family income.     

The Impact of Exchange Context on the Activation of Equity in Ultimatum Games

In this paper we report the results of additional exchange ultimatum game experiments conducted at the same time as the exchange ultimatum game experiments reported in Hoffman et al. (Games and Economic Behavior, 7(3), pp. 346–380, 1994). In these additional experiments, we use instructions to change an impersonal exchange situation to a personal exchange situation. To do this, we prompt sellers to consider what choices their buyers will make. Game theory would predict that thinking about the situation would lead sellers to make smaller offers to buyers. In contrast, we find a significant increase in seller offers to buyers. This result suggests that encouraging sellers to thinking about buyer choices focuses their attention on the strategic interaction with humans who think they way they do in personal exchange situations, and who may punish them for unacceptable behavior, and not on the logic of the game theoretic structure of the problem.     

高校贫困生认定工作存在的问题与对策研究

在当前高校贫困生认定工作现状的基础上分析贫困生认定工作存在的问题:标准不统一、信息失真、缺乏系统的评价指标,提出通过加强学生思想教育、完善贫困生认定量化标准、建立贫困生动态监管机制、健全贫困生认定制度等对策。     

大学生需要有效的思想教育和价值引导

良性运转的社会需要良好的公民意识和价值取向，而思想意识不可能自发产生，需要积极的正面教育。社会稳定和持续发展需要正确认识社会发展带来的社会结构变化，在分析大学生对社会认识的基础上，采取积极有效的措施可以更好地促进社会良性发展。     

大学生职业生涯中的思想政治素质

从大学生职业生涯角度,探讨职业生涯和思想政治素质的良性互动关系。良好的思想政治素质能提升职业生涯的适应能力,能创造性地应对职业生涯中的各种环境。职业生涯也是践行与检验思想政治素质的主阵地。     

大学生择业期望现状及差异性分析研究--以武汉市七所部属高校为例

大学生的就业难问题是家庭、学校和社会希望解决的重点问题,而大学生不合理的择业期望正是造成此问题的一个重要原因。以武汉市七所部属高校为例,通过问卷调查,了解大学生的择业期望,再结合描述性分析和差异性分析,探讨了大学生择业期望中的一些倾向和个体特征的差异性影响。性别、学校层次、学科类别和家庭背景会对大学生的择业行为造成一定的差异性影响。提出了政策建议。     

Ethnicity and risk: a field test of the white-male effect

In this article, I analyse the different risk-taking tendencies of students comprising the two major ethnic groups in Israel, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews, in a field setting. I determine ethnicity by students’ last names, and I measure risk by students’ propensity to give up a passing grade on a final exam in order to be able to retake the exam in pursuit of a higher grade, but with the risk of earning a lower grade and possibly not passing the course. Differences in preferences for risk may be part of the explanation for differential labour market outcomes between gender and ethnic groups. I find evidence that Ashkenazi men take more exam risk than both Ashkenazi and Mizrahi women, and Mizrahi men. This finding is consistent with the ‘White-Male Effect’, the notion that white males, or males from the dominant socio-economic group, perceive lower risks than females and non-whites.