Anti-Social Behavior in Groups
54 Pages Posted: 19 Nov 2018
There are 4 versions of this paper
Anti-social Behavior in Groups
Nastiness in Groups
Anti-Social Behavior in Groups
Date Written: November 2018
Abstract
This paper provides strong evidence supporting the long-standing speculation that decision-making in groups has a dark side, by magnifying the prevalence of anti-social behavior towards outsiders. A large-scale experiment implemented in Slovakia and Uganda (N=2,309) reveals that deciding in a group with randomly assigned peers increases the prevalence of anti-social behavior that reduces everyone's but which improves the relative position of own group. The effects are driven by the influence of a group context on individual behavior, rather than by group deliberation. The observed patterns are strikingly similar on both continents.
JEL Classification: C92, C93, D01, D64, D74, D91
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation