Polarisation, personality, and discriminatory behaviour: experiments in Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom

Dixon, L. ORCID: 0000-0001-6933-789X, 2022. Polarisation, personality, and discriminatory behaviour: experiments in Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

The thesis presents four main research projects using behavioural and experimental economics methods. Chapter 2 presents an experiment that investigates discriminatory behaviour in one-shot experimental games conducted in Zimbabwe. We also use social normbased interventions to shift behaviours. Chapter 3 reports an experiment replicating methodology with context-specific variations used in the previous chapter but conducted in the United Kingdom. In both experiments. The results present evidence of out-group discrimination. Salience or association with the identity also influences discriminatory behaviour. Beliefs about others’ cooperativeness drives their contributions. The social norm-based nudges have varied effects on behaviours, at times having the opposite effect than intended. However, the treatment effectively alters modal responses in the social norms elicitation task. Chapter 4 investigates the impact of social identities on their willingness to lie for others. Using a variation of the Mind Game, individuals have the opportunity to lie on behalf of someone else. Our findings are consistent with the literature that participants do not maximise their payoffs over ten rounds in both the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe experiments. We show that salience to a group identity influences the likelihood, emphasising the moral cost of dishonesty. We also consider normative acceptance of bribery. This paper also contributes to the experimental literature on corruption and dishonest behaviour using a variation of the Mind Game. Lastly, chapter 5 examines individual-level personality traits using the Big Five Inventory. We compare personality traits between Leave and Remain voters in the United Kingdom. We also investigate the influence of personality traits on discriminatory behaviour. The paper also briefly considers the potential for misrepresenting political identities and the potential relationship between personality traits. Our results suggest that Leavers and Remainers differ in Openness, with Remainers reporting higher levels of Openness. In addition, we find evidence that, to some extent, personality traits dictate cooperative behaviours. The findings contribute to the research on personality traits, political decisions and behaviours.

Item Type: Thesis
Creators: Dixon, L.
Contributors:
NameRoleNTU IDORCID
Chmura, T.Thesis supervisorNBS3CHMURTorcid.org/0000-0001-7476-2030
Ackrill, R.Thesis supervisorEPO3ACKRIRWorcid.org/0000-0002-0739-1812
Fan, J.Thesis supervisorECN3FANJorcid.org/0000-0003-4447-6580
Date: August 2022
Rights: The copyright in this work is held by the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the author
Divisions: Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by: Linda Sullivan
Date Added: 28 Nov 2023 10:33
Last Modified: 28 Nov 2023 10:33
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/50455

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