In Part I, you will be randomly assigned to another player, to form a team of two.
In your team, you will play 2 rounds.
In each round you will solve a team task, for which your team will get a monetary reward. The success of the task depends on each team member’s performance.
The task is to count how many times you can see the number 7 in the digit block displayed on your screen (see screenshot). Enter your count in the input field and click OK.
Your team member sees a similar digit block and does the same task.
You have to count and submit your count within a time limit of 2 minutes – the time is displayed on screen. If you fail to enter your digit count and click OK within the time limit, the number 0 will be submitted automatically.
Your team solved the task successfully if the total number of 7s counted by both of you together deviates from the exact number by no more than four digits up or down (e.g. if the exact number is 10: any number between 6 and 14 would be valid). Your team earns 3 GBP as a reward, which is divided between the two team members, so you and your team partner receive 1.5 GBP each.
You have not solved the team task successfully, if your joint total number count deviates by more than four from the exact number up or down. In this case, your team will not receive any payout for this round.
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Continuation of Part I
After playing 2 rounds, your team will be allocated a budget of 1.5 GBP dedicated to being donated to the charity Cancer Research UK. This donation budget is separate from your current earnings – but the decisions you make later on could increase or decrease your earnings.
At this point, each team member will be randomly allocated either the role of Player A or Player B.
Player A is responsible for transferring the donation budget to the charity.
If Player A confirms the transfer, the full budget will be transferred to the charity. The experimenters make sure that the donation goes to Cancer Research UK. Player A’s and Player B’s earnings remain unaffected.
However, Player A can decide to keep part of the donation budget for themselves.
Player B has to respond to Player A’s decision of keeping parts of the donation budget in one of two ways: either by overlooking or by reporting the behaviour of Player A.
If Player B decides to overlook the behaviour of Player A, 1 GBP of the donation budget will be added to Player A’s earnings and the remaining 0.5 GBP go to Cancer Research UK. Player B’s earnings remain unaffected.
If Player B decides to report the behaviour of Player A, Player A has to give back the 1 GBP. Thus, Cancer Research UK receives the full donation budget of 1.5 GBP. In addition, another 1 GBP is deducted from Player A’s earnings. Player B will have their payoff deducted by 0.5 GBP.
In the table you find a summary of potential decisions and payoffs
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Part II of the experiment
Part II consists of only one round.
You will be randomly assigned to another participant who was previously in the same role as you. Hence, the team will consist of either two previous Players A or two previous Players B. In the new team, you will be assigned a new role, which we refer to as either the role of "Player 1" or "Player 2".
Player 1 will be informed about Player 2’s choice of action in Part I of the experiment and decides whether they want to form a team with Player 2. Therefore, please note that the decision you made in Part I potentially impacts the decision that your team partner will make in Part II.
If Player 1 decides to accept Player 2 as team member, they will work together on the same task as in Part I and both players will receive 1.5 GBP each for solving the task correctly (same as in Part I).
If Player 1 decides not to build a team with Player 2, only Player 1 can earn further money. Player 1 will complete the same task as in Part I, but the task is solved successfully only if the reported number of 7s in the digit block deviates from the exact number by no more than two 7s up or down. Player 1 receives only a reduced amount of 1.2 GBP for correctly solving the individual task. Player 2 cannot make any money and has to wait until Player 1 has solved the task.
In the table you find a summary of potential decisions and payoffs of part II of the experiment
This concludes the experiment, and you will receive information about the amount you earned in the experiment and the amount that has been donated to Cancer Research UK.
Subsequently, we ask you to fill out a short questionnaire. This is mandatory but your answers do not affect your bonus payments.
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Your Payment
There is a flat payment of 4 GBP for participating in this experiment.
Depending on the performance in the team task and your decisions you will receive bonus payments as explained above.
Your total bonus payment will be displayed to you at the end of the experiment.
Transferring the money to the charity
The total sum of donations of all the teams that participated in the experiment will be transferred to Cancer Research UK (account number 22994289, bank code 56-00-13) by bank transfer. You can find confirmation of the transfer on the following homepage (https://t1p.de/4jrqp) two weeks after the experiment. In this way you can be assured that the money has been transferred to Cancer Research UK. We will message you via Prolific as soon as the donation confirmation has been uploaded onto the homepage.