No imitation - on local and group interaction, learning and reciprocity in prisoners\

Oliver Kirchkamp and Rosemarie Nagel

No 03-04, Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications from Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim

Abstract: This study disentangles experimentally imitation, reinforcement, and reciprocity in repeated prisoners' dilemmas. We compare a simple situation in which players interact only with their neighbours (local interaction) with one where players interact with all members of the population (group interaction). We observe choices under different information conditions and estimate parameters of a learning model. We find that imitation, while assumed to be a driving force in many models of spatial evolution, is often a negligible factor in the experiment. Behaviour is predominantly driven by reinforcement learning.

Keywords: Local interaction; experiments; prisoner's dilemma; learning; reinforcement; repeated games (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 C92 D74 D83 H41 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2003-02-25
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp, nep-geo and nep-pbe
Note: Financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 504, at the University of Mannheim and the Spanish DGIC Tecnica PB95-0983is gratefully acknowledged.
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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