Implicit vs. explicit deception in ultimatum games with incomplete information

Peter H. Kriss, Rosemarie Nagel and Roberto Weber

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2013, vol. 93, issue C, 337-346

Abstract: We explore bargaining, using ultimatum games, when one party, the proposer, possesses private information about the pie size and can either misrepresent this information through untruthful statements (explicit deception) or through information-revealing actions (implicit deception). Our study is the first such direct comparison between two ways in which people can deceive. We find that requiring informed parties to make an explicit statement yields greater deception than when information is communicated implicitly, particularly for larger stakes. However, allowing the explicit statement to be accompanied by a promise of truthfulness reverses this effect. In contrast with many previous studies, we generally observe very high frequencies of dishonesty.

Keywords: Deception; Experiment; Ultimatum; Lying aversion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C92 D03 D30 D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (37)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:93:y:2013:i:c:p:337-346

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2013.03.024

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