Dictator Game

Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J. L., & Thaler, R. H. (1986). Fairness and the assumptions of economics. Journal of Business, 59(4), S285-S300. doi: 10.1086/296367


Table of Contents

Description

History of Use

References

Description:

Purpose
The dictator game was designed to assess how individuals respond to situations where self-interest and equality are opposed.
Questions
The dictator game has 1 decision point for player 1 and no decision point for player 2. However, it may also be played as a series of successive rounds. Pairs may remain the same across rounds or change each round. For a given round, the identity of pairs may or may not be revealed--players may or may not know with whom they are playing.
Sub-scales
N/A
Domain

Psychometrics

Sample items
The most common variant of the dictator game has 2 participants.
  • Player 1 (sometimes called the proposer or allocator) is given a sum of money $x.
  • Player 1 decides how much of $x to offer to player 2 (sometimes called the responder or recipient).
  • P2 has no active role.
  • P2 receives the offered amount and P1 receives the remainder ($x-$offer).

References:

Scale:
Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J. L., & Thaler, R. H. (1986). Fairness and the assumptions of economics. Journal of Business, 59(4), S285-S300.doi: 10.1086/296367
For reviews of Dictator Game research, see:
Uses:
  • Dalbert, C., & Umlauft, S. (2009). The role of the justice motive in economic decision making. Journal of Economic Psychology, 30(2), 172-180. doi: 10.1016/j.joep.2008.07.006

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