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Special issue on “experimental economics and the social embedding of economic behaviour and cognition”

Introductory article: the implication of social cognition for experimental economics

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Abstract

Can human social cognitive processes and social motives be grasped by the methods of experimental economics? Experimental studies of strategic cognition and social preferences contribute to our understanding of the social aspects of economic decisions making. Yet, papers in this issue argue that the social aspects of decision-making introduce several difficulties for interpreting the results of economic experiments. In particular, the laboratory is itself a social context, and in many respects a rather distinctive one, which raises questions of external validity.

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Notes

  1. This view is expressed, e.g., by D. Ariely (2008) in Predictably Irrational.

  2. These authors also include interdisciplinary considerations from evolutionary theory. But this issue mainly considers the interpretation they make of their experimental results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Cognitive Science program, Central European University, Nador u. 9, 1051, Budapest, Hungary

    Christophe Heintz

  2. School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 237, Reading, RG6 6AR, United Kingdom

    Nicholas Bardsley

Authors
  1. Christophe Heintz
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  2. Nicholas Bardsley
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Correspondence to Christophe Heintz.

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Heintz, C., Bardsley, N. Special issue on “experimental economics and the social embedding of economic behaviour and cognition”. Mind Soc 9, 113–118 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-010-0082-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-010-0082-1

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