The Sound of Others: Surprising Evidence of Conformist Behavior
Southern Economic Journal
We run the Bomb Risk Elicitation task in a crowded laboratory with 32 participants, either with or without earmuffs. Even if subjects cannot observe the decisions of other players, they can hear the clicks and the higher the volume of clicks, the higher the risk tolerance. We find strong conformity/bandwagon effects whereby hearing others click, especially if the resolution of uncertainty is collective – ie one draw for everyone in the room – increases risk taking.
Abstract
In this article we use the “Click” version of the Bomb Risk Elicitation Task to explore preferences for conformism. In the task subjects can infer the behavior of others from the mass of clicks heard. This signal is uninformative about the precise choices of the other participants, and never mentioned in the instructions. We control the exposure of subjects to clicks by implementing treatments with and without earmuffs. We further test the effect of the introduction of a common rather than individual resolution of uncertainty, still keeping individual payoffs independent of other subjects’ choices. We find strong evidence of conformist behavior even in such an inhospitable environment. Simply hearing the others clicking marginally affects subjects behavior. Introducing a common random draw results in a dramatic shift of the average choices toward risk loving, in particular by women, which is consistent with social preference considerations.