The hot-versus-cold effect in a punishment game: a multi-round experimental study

Abstract

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York. We conduct a multi-round experiment on a punishment game using both the strategy method and the direct-response method. In the game, the sender may make decisions that are either favorable or unfavorable to the receiver, whereas the receiver may reward the favorable decision and/or punish the unfavorable decision. The hot-versus-cold effect is observed in both sender behaviors and receiver behaviors. Under the strategy method, the senders more often adopt decisions that are favorable to the receivers, whereas the receivers impose punishment more frequently than under the direct-response method. We suggest that in the multi-round experiment, the strategic value of punishment dominates the taste for punishment from the perspective of the receiver. According to our explanation based on mental accounting, the utility of imposing punishment is higher under the strategy method than under the direct-response method. Hence, the receiver is more likely to make punishment decisions. This difference in receiver behaviors prompts the sender to make receiver-favorable decisions more frequently under the strategy method.