15 Country Survey: Difference between revisions
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Another technique the researchers used to study these societies was the dictator game. However, only 3 of the 17 societies were used under this study. Although the study was small, the groups were different in culture and the outcome was extremely similar. The behavior of these groups deviated from that of industrial society. In the study performed on college studies, the mode was normally zero with a secondary mode at 50/50. In the groups study, there was no mode at zero. The mode for the Orma was at 50 percent with a secondary mode at 20 percent, the mode for the Hadza dictators was 10 percent, and finally the Tsimane had mode was 25 percent with a mode of 32. | Another technique the researchers used to study these societies was the dictator game. However, only 3 of the 17 societies were used under this study. Although the study was small, the groups were different in culture and the outcome was extremely similar. The behavior of these groups deviated from that of industrial society. In the study performed on college studies, the mode was normally zero with a secondary mode at 50/50. In the groups study, there was no mode at zero. The mode for the Orma was at 50 percent with a secondary mode at 20 percent, the mode for the Hadza dictators was 10 percent, and finally the Tsimane had mode was 25 percent with a mode of 32. | ||
===Why the Difference?== | ===Why the Difference?=== |
Revision as of 01:12, 25 April 2007
Overview
The 15 country survey was conducted by several highly regarded and influential economists such as John Henrich, Ernst Fehr, Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, Richard Mcelreath, and Colin Camerer. The one problem that bothered these economists was the canonical assumption that individuals in today’s society are entirely self-interested. Many experiments showed that people care about fairness and reciprocity, are willing to change the distribution of material outcomes at a personal cost, and are willing to reward those who act in a cooperative manner rather than those who act in opposition. However, there were still some essential questions which needed answer. Do individual’s social and economic environments shape behavior or is there a universal pattern of behavior? Is it individual’s attributes such as age, sex, relative wealth, or groups which they belong to responsible for this behavior? And lastly, are there cultures that approximate the canonical account of self-regarding behavior? The researchers realized that these questions could not be answered because normally the subjects questioned are college students. So the researchers went to five continents and 12 different countries, and studied 15 small-scale societies exhibiting a wide range of economic and cultural conditions.
The 15 Countries
The sample consisted of three foraging societies, six cultures that practice slash and burn horticulture, four nomadic herding groups, and three sedentary, small-scale agriculturalists societies.
Evidence
Much like the experiment used on college students, the economists decided to use the ultimatum game in all 17 societies. Player 1, or the prosperer, in this game is provisionally assigned an amount which is equivalent to a day to two days wage, and Player 1 is asked to assign a portion of the wage to Player 2, or the responder. Aligning with the rules of the game mentioned under Vernon Smith, the respondent then chooses whether or not to accept the offer.
The results of the study showed that contrary to the prediction of the standard model, even the groups with the smallest offers have means greater than 25 percent of stake size. Some societies such as the Torguud and the Mapuche, had offers of between 30 and 40 percent. Shockingly, the Ache and the Lamelara had mean offers greater than 50 percent. The group differences are drastically larger than those seen in the studies performed on college students. The mean offer in industrial societies tends to sit around 44 percent, but in this study the range was from 26 percent to 58 percent. Another striking difference is in the rejection rate. Industrial societies tend to turn to the offer when it's 20 percent or less much more often then seen in the societies study.
Another technique the researchers used to study these societies was the dictator game. However, only 3 of the 17 societies were used under this study. Although the study was small, the groups were different in culture and the outcome was extremely similar. The behavior of these groups deviated from that of industrial society. In the study performed on college studies, the mode was normally zero with a secondary mode at 50/50. In the groups study, there was no mode at zero. The mode for the Orma was at 50 percent with a secondary mode at 20 percent, the mode for the Hadza dictators was 10 percent, and finally the Tsimane had mode was 25 percent with a mode of 32.