Psychology and experimental economics: A gap in abstraction
Experimental economics and social psychology share an interest in a widening subset of topics, relying on similar lab-based methods to address similar questions about human behavior, yet dialogue between the two fields remains in its infancy. We propose a framework for understanding this disconnect: The different approaches the disciplines take to translating real-world behavior into the laboratory create a "gap in abstraction," which contributes to crucial differences in philosophy about the roles of deception and incentives in experiments and limits cross-pollination. We review two areas of common interest - altruism and group-based discrimination - which demonstrate this gap yet also reveal ways in which the two approaches might be seen as complementary rather than contradictory. Copyright © 2007 Association for Psychological Science.
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- Experimental Psychology
- 52 Psychology
- 1702 Cognitive Sciences
- 1701 Psychology
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Experimental Psychology
- 52 Psychology
- 1702 Cognitive Sciences
- 1701 Psychology