Do individuals successfully cover up their lies? Evidence from a compliance experiment

We study how well individuals in a face-to-face situation can delude others. We exploit data from a laboratory experiment in which participants were asked to assess video-taped statements as being rather truthful or untruthful. The statements are face-to-face tax declarations. The video clips feature each subject twice making the same declaration: One time the subject is reporting honestly, and the other time willingly dishonestly. This allows us to investigate within-subject differences in perceived truthfulness. Our study provides several novel insights. We find that individuals can cover up their lies successfully. On average, a subject is perceived as more truthful if she deceives than if she reports honestly. In particular, individuals with a genuine dishonest appearance manage to increase their perceived truthfulness by up to 14 percent when lying. Moreover, our results show that a subject appears less truthful if she had previously been caught lying. Being detected as a liar previously appears to impair self-confidence and to thereby lower an individual’s ability to deceive.     

拥有自有品牌零售商的平台开放策略研究

随着电子商务的快速发展，零售商之间竞争加剧，自有品牌战略成为零售商获取竞争优势的关键。研究拥有自有品牌零售商的平台开放策略，通过对比零售商不开放平台和开放平台下的均衡利润，给出零售商平台开放策略选择条件，并分析产品之间价格影响系数、固定成本和潜在需求差异系数对零售商平台开放策略选择的影响，最后结合数值分析和京东自有品牌的发展现状验证了本文的主要研究结论。研究发现：第一，随着固定成本的增加，佣金费率逐渐减少，随着潜在需求差异系数的增加，佣金费率逐渐增加；第二，当产品之间的价格影响系数较小（较大）时，平台开放（不开放）是零售商的最优选择；第三，当固定成本较小（较大）时，平台开放（不开放）是零售商的最优选择；第四，当潜在需求差异系数较小（较大）时，平台开放（不开放）是零售商的最优选择。     

Open spaces for dialogue promoting mental health as a social work education methodology

ABSTRACT

The authors discuss service user involvement as a key approach regarding training of social workers. In many European Union countries this is a stable practice with a lengthy tradition in research and application. However, in Poland it is almost entirely absent and marginalized. This article presents the results of a participatory action research project conducted at the Institute of Sociology of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, the objective of which was to identify and critically analyze the key substantive and formal aspects of training of social workers with the participation of individuals with experience of mental illness. This research project adopted an open approach to cognizing reality based on qualitative co-participatory methods. In the conclusion, the authors emphasize that the fundamental criterion for the success of this particular form of training is voluntary and differentiated participation of students—both in the role of people sharing their own experience and as learners—as well as shaping a culture of open dialogue, educational alliances of recognition and recovery, the foundation of which is axiological experience.     

Inter-group contact and out-group altruism after violence

Altruism among humans is common. It is especially prominent among in-group members. However, we are struck by results from laboratory-in-the-field experiments with out-group members of different ethnic or religious backgrounds. In all instances, the groups were rivals in civil wars. While we find almost no altruistic behavior among groups that were engaged in fighting, out-group altruism emerges with the passage of time. To address the underlying mechanism that might explain this puzzling result, we use a laboratory experiment that sorts between a norms revision explanation and a contact hypothesis explanation. Our findings show that contact with out-group members, in a mutually beneficial task, results in a reversion to prior levels of out-group altruism following conflict. Our findings reinforce the idea that deeply held attitudes toward a stigmatized out-group change following productive interactions with those out-group members. It is clear that hostility between groups need not persist over time.     

Reputation spillover effects from grant‐providing institutions

There is a broad academic discussion about the impact of funding grants from a foundation or a government department on individual support intentions toward the nonprofit organization receiving the grant. However, the role of the grant provider's reputation has frequently been overlooked. In this study, we experimentally tested whether there is a reputation spillover effect of a grant‐providing organization. Based on a real‐life example, we asked citizens to rate their willingness to donate to a nonprofit organization, and we experimentally manipulated the available information on funding sources. We test this for both a government department and a foundation as a grant provider. Our results suggest that not the act of receiving a grant, but the citizens' awareness about the funding organization—at least in the case of a foundation—has an impact on support intentions. In contrast, for a prominent government department as a grant provider, we did not find support for a reputation spillover effect.     

Agreements About Extra-Dyadic Sex in Gay Men's Relationships: Exploring Differences in Relationship Quality by Agreement Type and Rule-Breaking Behavior

Research comparing the quality of monogamous and non-monogamous (“open”) relationships among gay men has produced mixed findings. In addition, little is known about the consequences of breaking the rules of relationship agreements about extra-dyadic sex. Results from a survey of 229 gay men in romantic relationships showed that open relationships were less passionate, but no less intimate or committed, than monogamous or “threesome-only” relationships. However, men who broke rules reported lower relationship quality overall, regardless of the relationship agreement. Thus, it is less the nature of the agreement itself than adhering to the conditions of it that influences relationship quality.     

The older the bolder: Does relative age among peers influence children’s preference for competition?

Having been relatively old at school tends to have a long lasting positive effect on professional achievement, in particular in competitive environments (sports, politics). We investigate the roots of this pattern and study whether the relative age position of children at school plays a role in shaping their preference for competition. We run a controlled experiment in high schools across two states in Australia. Our participants are students who are the very oldest or very youngest in their classroom. We elicit their preference for competition using the Niederle and Vesterlund (2007) task and find evidence of an effect of relative age. This effect is concentrated on male students. We find no differences in self-confidence, and risk attitudes between relatively old and young students. These results suggest that the observed pattern may come from pure preference for competition.     

Shared‐use mining infrastructure: Why it matters and how to achieve it

This article considers the cases for and against ‘open access’ regulation of rail and port logistics infrastructure used by ‘bulk’ mining operations, arguing that host governments should proactively impose and then enforce such regulation in almost all cases. The logistics infrastructure needed for this type of mining activity is of critical importance. The costs and potential inefficiencies involved in duplicating such infrastructure confer a significant competitive advantage on its owner in the absence of effective access regulation. In particular, where a first mover develops an ‘integrated’ project incorporating a mine and associated infrastructure, a failure to impose access regulation discourages third‐party investment in mineral exploration and development in the region serviced by the infrastructure, due to the risk of hold‐up by the first mover. An unregulated first mover can also use its infrastructure advantage to capture the state's share of resource rents from the mineral endowment of the region. Open access regulation further benefits host countries by enabling broad‐based economic development through the shared‐use of mining infrastructure with other sectors (e.g., agribusiness). The article highlights contrasting experience with access regulation in Australia: the Pilbara iron ore region has seen protracted disputes involving mining firms and policy‐makers and very few examples of third‐party access, while in the coal region of central Queensland an extensive multi‐user, multi‐purpose railway network operates independently of mining firms. The authors urge governments in sub‐Saharan Africa (in particular) not to underestimate the internal capacity and other challenges associated with developing and enforcing open access regulation of mining infrastructure in a manner that protects their national interests.     

Social cohesion in Rwanda: Results from a public good experiment

We describe a public good experiment, a type of economic experiment commonly used to examine feelings of prosociality—that is, behaviour which is positive, helpful and intended to promote social acceptance and friendship—and community cohesion, carried out in Rwanda. Contributions in different parts of the country are affected by the local intensity of the 1994 genocide, with more generous contributions being made in areas where violence was greater. This supports earlier research indicating that conflict experience leads to greater prosociality. However, we also find that people who have not, themselves, been targets of violence give lower contributions than people who have. The considerable group‐related and regional differences in social behaviour may have implications for the country's policies to deal with social cohesion.     

特低渗透油藏 CO2 驱室内实验研究

针对大庆外围油田特低渗透油藏剩余油潜力大、井网加密效益差、水驱采收率低等问题，提出了特低渗透油藏 CO2驱技术。通过细管实验和天然岩芯 CO2 驱油实验，确定了 CO2 与高台子油田原油的最小混相压力，评价了特低渗透砂岩油藏 CO2 驱油效果。实验结果表明，CO2 驱可以应用于高台子油田，并取得较好的驱油效果。当天然岩芯空气渗透率为0.58 mD 时，在水驱基础上，气驱可以进一步提高采收率 8% 以上，特低渗透油藏实施 CO2 驱油技术是可行的。