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Ingroup bias in a social learning experiment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Wenbo Zou and
Xue XuOpen the ORCID record for Xue Xu[Opens in a new window]
Wenbo Zou*
Affiliation:
Institute of State Economy, Nankai University, Weijin Road 94, 300071 Tianjin, ChinaThe Laboratory for Economic Behavior and Policy Simulation, Nankai University, Weijin Road 94, 300071 Tianjin, China
Xue Xu*
Affiliation:
School of Economics, Nankai University, Weijin Road 94, 300071 Tianjin, ChinaThe Laboratory for Economic Behavior and Policy Simulation, Nankai University, Weijin Road 94, 300071 Tianjin, China
*
joyque.zou@gmail.com
xuexu0628@outlook.com
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Abstract

Does social learning and subsequent private information processing differ depending on whether the observer shares the same group identity as the predecessor whose action is observed? In this paper, we conduct a lab experiment to answer this question, in which subjects first observe a social signal and then receive a private signal. We find that subjects put greater weights on the social signal if they share with the predecessor the same group identity that is induced in the experimental environment. We also provide suggestive evidence that such an ingroup-outgroup difference cannot be explained by individuals’ beliefs of the predecessor’s rationality. Moreover, heterogeneous effects of group identity exist in weights given to the subsequent private signal: Compared to when the predecessor is an outgroup, those who have learned from an ingroup predecessor put a greater (smaller) weight on the private signal if it contradicts (confirms) the social signal. We conjecture that such group effects are consistent with the perspective that group identity works as a framing device and brings about certain decision heuristics in the social signal phase, which no longer exist in the private signal phase.

Keywords

Ingroup biasSocial learningBelief updatingLaboratory experimentC91D83D91

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , March 2023, pp. 27 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Economic Science Association 2022.

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