Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP13315
Authors: Michal Bauer; Jana Cahlkov; Dagmara Celik Katreniak; Julie Chytilova; Lubomr Cingl; Tom Elinsk
Abstract: This paper provides strong evidence supporting the long-standing speculation that decision-making in groups has a dark side, by magnifying the prevalence of anti-social behavior towards outsiders. A large-scale experiment implemented in Slovakia and Uganda (N=2,309) reveals that deciding in a group with randomly assigned peers increases the prevalence of anti-social behavior that reduces everyone’s but which improves the relative position of own group. The effects are driven by the influence of a group context on individual behavior, rather than by group deliberation. The observed patterns are strikingly similar on both continents.
Keywords: antisocial behavior; aggressive competitiveness; group membership; group decision-making; group conflict
JEL Codes: C92; C93; D01; D64; D74; D91
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Group decision-making (D70) | Antisocial behavior (K42) |
| Group context (C92) | Antisocial behavior (K42) |
| Aggressive competitiveness (C72) | Antisocial behavior (K42) |
| Group decision-making (D70) | Individual behavior (D01) |
| Group context (C92) | Individual behavior (D01) |