The altruistic man

1. Bystander effect :
a. Kitty Genovese murder:
i.
ii.
b. People fainting:
i. People who were drunk
ii. People who had a cane
- > there were many people who helped the elderly than the kitty murde case because
at the subway station people can see whether other help the in need. But in the
murder case, they may not be able to see if smb help kitty
- >
c. Wallet return:
i. The second finder (very nice ver)
ii. The second finder (neutral tone)
iii. The second finder (very basty thing)
- > the very nice letter has higher chance:
-
2. Prisoner’s dilemma:
a. Rationality leads to economic study or economic study leads to rationality
b. Would the result differ when the stake is higher:
i. System 1 (instinctive thinking) will not be used -> people use system 2 to use
rationality
ii. In game shows, in 40% of the cases, people still exhibit irrationality -> even
when the stake is raised higher, the rate of irrationality is still higher.
iii.
3. Altruism is positively correlated with socioeconomic status -> people who are
altruistic tend to do better economically ( not causational)
4. Ultimatum game:
a. It might be rational to reject a low offer because the satisfaction that the other
person is punished gives higher utility than
5. Dictator:
a. When we give them more options, they tend to be less nicer and tend to steal
from us

Tutorial 4:

1. In lab experiements, lab experiments have the power to turn a person into a stupid
automaton who may exhibit a cheerful willingness to assist the investigator in every
possible way by reporting to him those very things which he is most eager to find
out,hence for example in an altruism setting,people would behave altruistically.
However in field experiments,people would just behave how they normally would.
Thus,one difference is that a context is given. Secondly,in lab
experiments,participants would be under the scrutiny of others and feel the pressure
of being observed by the person conducting the experiment and would tend to
behave how the organizer of the experiment would expect them to. Lastly is
 selection bias. Trust in field more. Lab experiments are more controlled while field
experiments are more in a natural setting.
Lab experiments people are more likely to get into character. Selection bias.
Field experiments are hard to replicate to test how true it is due to the everchanging
factors.
Field experiments are still more challenging to conduct as compared to lab
experiments.
Lab experiment Field experiment
 Take place in a lab  People do not know they are
 There is standardize procedure. participating in an experiment
The participants are divided into
two groups: treatment group and
control group
 Confounders are easier to control 
 Selection bias:  Expensive
 Tendency to follow the aim of the
experiment because they are being
observed (scrutiny) -> people are
faking it
 Context: get into character
according to the context (people
believe in it)

2. The evolutionary foundations of altruism:

a. Kinship:
i. You are helping people with the same gene as you so technically
b. Reciprocity:
i.
c. Reputation
d. Advertisement of dominance: -> because I am so good, I can be altruistic
- > altruism has selfish roots as it benefits
- > the gene of altruism should have disappeared because you are helping other and
putting yourself at risk -> evolutionarily
- > it is a habit. Once upon a time, when u helped somebody in the small community,
you are technically helping yourself. As a habit, this continues as the community
grows bigger -> misfiring of habits
- > misfiring of habit formation: habits started when it made sense selfishly but now it
doesn’t make sense anymore.
3. Accusation against behavioural economics is that irrationality when the stakes are
low.
By resorting to game show, the economists want to see if more people use system 2
(rational thinking) when the stakes are higher. Whether
40% of the cases still persist irrationality -> good news for behavior economics ->
irrationality is ingrained in us
Communication