Using Personality Questionnaires in Experiments -- Limits and Potentials

Julia Müller () and Christiane Schwieren

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Growing interest in using personality variables in economic research has led to the question whether personality as measured by psychology is useful to predict economic behavior. It is undoubted that personality can influence large-scale economic outcomes. Whether personality variables can also be used to understand micro-behavior in economic games is, however, less clear. We discuss the reasons for and against this assumption. In the framework of our own experiment, we test whether and which personality factors are useful in predicting behavior in the Trust Game. We can also use the Trust Game to understand how personality measures fare relatively in predicting behavior when situational constraints are strong or weak. This approach can help economists to better understand what to expect from the inclusion of personality variables in their models and experiments, and where further research might be useful and needed.

Keywords: Personality; Big Five; Five Factor Model; Incentives; Experiment; Trust Game (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 C91 D03 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-04-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo, nep-exp and nep-gth
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:78132

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