Network effects on coordination in asymmetric games.

Network structure can have an important effect on the behavior of players in an iterated 2 × 2 game. We study the effect of network structure on global and local behavior in asymmetric coordination games using best response dynamics. We find that global behavior is highly dependent on network topology. Random (Erdös-Rényi) networks mostly converge to homogeneous behavior, but the higher the clustering in the network the more heterogeneous the behavior becomes. Behavior within the communities of the network is almost exclusively homogeneous. The findings suggest that clustering of networks facilitates self-organization of uniform behavior within clusters, but heterogeneous behavior between clusters. At the local level we find that some nodes are more important in determining the equilibrium behavior than other nodes. Degree centrality is for most networks the main predictor for the behavior and nodes with an even degree have an advantage over nodes with an uneven degree in dictating the behavior. We conclude that the behavior is difficult to predict for (Erdös-Rényi) networks and that the network imposes the behavior as a function of clustering and degree heterogeneity in other networks.

Hierarchical Bayesian analysis of outcome- and process-based social preferences and beliefs in Dictator Games and sequential Prisoner's Dilemmas.

In this paper, using a within-subjects design, we estimate the utility weights that subjects attach to the outcome of their interaction partners in four decision situations: (1) binary Dictator Games (DG), second player's role in the sequential Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) after the first player (2) cooperated and (3) defected, and (4) first player's role in the sequential Prisoner's Dilemma game. We find that the average weights in these four decision situations have the following order: (1)>(2)>(4)>(3). Moreover, the average weight is positive in (1) but negative in (2), (3), and (4). Our findings indicate the existence of strong negative and small positive reciprocity for the average subject, but there is also high interpersonal variation in the weights in these four nodes. We conclude that the PD frame makes subjects more competitive than the DG frame. Using hierarchical Bayesian modeling, we simultaneously analyze beliefs of subjects about others' utility weights in the same four decision situations. We compare several alternative theoretical models on beliefs, e.g., rational beliefs (Bayesian-Nash equilibrium) and a consensus model. Our results on beliefs strongly support the consensus effect and refute rational beliefs: there is a strong relationship between own preferences and beliefs and this relationship is relatively stable across the four decision situations.

Integration of visual and inertial cues in perceived heading of self-motion.

In the present study, we investigated whether the perception of heading of linear self-motion can be explained by Maximum Likelihood Integration (MLI) of visual and non-visual sensory cues. MLI predicts smaller variance for multisensory judgments compared to unisensory judgments. Nine participants were exposed to visual, inertial, or visual-inertial motion conditions in a moving base simulator, capable of accelerating along a horizontal linear track with variable heading. Visual random-dot motion stimuli were projected on a display with a 40° horizontal × 32° vertical field of view (FoV). All motion profiles consisted of a raised cosine bell in velocity. Stimulus heading was varied between 0 and 20°. After each stimulus, participants indicated whether perceived self-motion was straight-ahead or not. We fitted cumulative normal distribution functions to the data as a psychometric model and compared this model to a nested model in which the slope of the multisensory condition was subject to the MLI hypothesis. Based on likelihood ratio tests, the MLI model had to be rejected. It seems that the imprecise inertial estimate was weighed relatively more than the precise visual estimate, compared to the MLI predictions. Possibly, this can be attributed to low realism of the visual stimulus. The present results concur with other findings of overweighing of inertial cues in synthetic environments.

Prejudice towards Muslims in The Netherlands: testing integrated threat theory.

This study uses integrated threat theory to examine Dutch adolescents' (N=1,187) prejudice towards Muslim minorities. One out of two participants was found to have negative feelings towards Muslims. Perceived symbolic and realistic threat and negative stereotypes were examined as mediators between antecedent factors (in-group identification, intergroup contact, and the endorsement of multiculturalism) and prejudice. Based on structural equation modelling, it was found that stereotypes and symbolic threats, but not realistic threats, predicted prejudice towards Muslims. Further, it was found that the effect of in-group identification on prejudice was fully mediated by symbolic threat, the effect of contact was partially mediated by stereotypes, and the effect of the endorsement of multiculturalism was mediated by both symbolic threat and stereotypes. In addition, contact and multiculturalism were directly associated with prejudice towards Muslims. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.