Anticipation of Social Influence

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jonas Radbruch
• Subject Area: Economic Policy, Applied Economics
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 554831305

Social influence significantly shapes individual behavior across various domains. This proposal aims to understand how individuals anticipate social influence on their behavior. Accurately anticipating social influence is crucial as beliefs about it drive decision-making processes. Assessing the welfare effects of policies employing social influences depends on whether individuals accurately anticipate these influences and adjust their behavior accordingly. This proposal investigates the anticipation and potential misprediction of social influence in controlled settings, focusing on potentially biased beliefs about social influence. Employing controlled experiments, we measure both individuals' beliefs and observe their behavior, distinguishing biases about social influence from biases about external factors like costs or norms. In particular, we propose three projects spanning negotiation behavior, prosocial behavior, and expression of political views, with each project examining a distinct decision domain with different features. Jointly, these projects allow us to provide systematic evidence on the existence and nature of (mis)anticipation of social influence.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Maximilian Müller, Ph.D.