Revisiting the Asymmetric Matching Pennies Contradiction in China
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Published:2023-09-12
Issue:9
Volume:13
Page:757
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ISSN:2076-328X
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Container-title:Behavioral Sciences
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Behavioral Sciences
Author:
Leng Ailin1,
Lian Zeng2ORCID,
Lien Jaimie W.1,
Zheng Jie1ORCID
Affiliation:
1. Center for Economic Research, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
2. International Business School, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing 100089, China
Abstract
The asymmetric matching pennies contradiction posits that contrary to the prediction of mixed-strategy Nash equilibrium, experimental subjects’ choices are, in practice, based heavily on the magnitudes of their own payoffs. Own-payoff effects are robustly confirmed in the literature. Closely following the experimental setups in the literature which support the contradiction, we conduct a series of asymmetric matching pennies games in China, hypothesizing play which is closer to equilibrium frequencies than previously found. Contrary to previous experiments which were conducted in the United States, we find that there are essentially no own-payoff effects among Row players who face large payoff asymmetry. In a Quantal Response Equilibrium framework allowing for altruism or spite, the behavior of our subjects corresponded to a positive spite parameter, whereas the results of previous studies corresponded to altruism. Our results may be consistent with recent psychology literature that finds people from collectivist cultures are substantially more adept at taking the perspective of others compared with people from individualist cultures, a feature of the reasoning needed to obtain mixed-strategy equilibrium.
Funder
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
Research Achievements of “Double First-class” Major Project of Beijing Foreign Studies University
Outstanding Talents Support Program of Beijing Foreign Studies University, Shandong University, Tsinghua University
Hong Kong Research Grants Council General Research Fund
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Subject
Behavioral Neuroscience,General Psychology,Genetics,Development,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics