Can Priming Cooperation Increase Public Good Contributions?

Michalis Drouvelis, Robert Metcalfe, Nattavudh Powdthavee · Theory and Decision · 2015 · behavioral-economics · 10.1007/s11238-015-9481-4 · record drouvelis2015-cooperation-priming
tag layer · index · concepts · authors · עברית
Where this record's text came from. faceted 2026-08 by reading the locally held text (pdftext); every evidence string verified as an exact substring of that text before merging. The paper is a single experiment collected in two waves (2009 and 2011); the waves were pooled after a Mann–Whitney test found no difference between them, but neither wave alone reached the 5% level (wave 1 p = 0.125; wave 2 p = 0.069), so I did not code this as an internal replication. Claim type is coded 'existence' rather than 'mechanism' because the paper establishes that the effect occurs and explicitly reports that the candidate channel (beliefs about others) was not significant; the mechanism is left open ('priming primarily seems to work by changing subjects' preferences'). 2026-08-17 and 2026-08-25 schema-0.3 passes: every quote verified as an exact substring of the staged text and anchored at merge time; concept terms verified present; every edge endpoint an existing node.
Some words in these quotes contain the wrong character. The PDF this text was extracted from substituted 53 characters inside a word — a currency sign or a stray accent where a letter pair belongs, as in signi¢cantly for significantly, or a single ligature glyph, as in confidence. They are valid characters in the wrong place, so they survive every encoding check. The quotes keep them for the same reason as above, and a search of this page will not find the affected words.
How to read this page. The article itself is not reproduced here — this paper is not cleared for redistribution, so what follows is the tag layer alone. The evidence sentences are withheld with the article. The table at the foot lists every tag the record carries; each row names the facet it belongs to, and the whose words column says whether the tag records the paper's own wording or the tagger's sentence about the paper. Every tag links to each other paper in the corpus carrying it. The machine-readable edition of the same thing is the TEI file beside this one, where the tags live in standOff, and the article is at its publisher via the link below. When we have changed our mind. Some entries in the table begin with a word in capitals and the reason for it. EVIDENCE CORRECTED — the finding still stands, but we had quoted the wrong sentence from the paper, and the quotation has been replaced with the right one. RETRACTED — the entry itself was wrong; it stays on the page, marked, with the reason, rather than being deleted. WITHDRAWN AND REPLACED — the entry was wrong, and a corrected version of it appears in the entries below. Each mark carries its own reason, in brackets, because the reasons differ from one entry to the next. An entry we have WITHDRAWN is removed from this page and kept in the record, with its reason. A line reading Audit and a date is a later re-reading of the entry against its whole sentence: DOUBTFUL means it was kept, and the reason says what is loose about it. Quotation marks inside the tagger's sentence. Where a tag is the tagger's own sentence, a phrase in quotation marks inside it is borrowed from the paper — the tagger's wording around it is not. The paper's own sentence is the evidence quote for that row; on this page it is withheld with the article, and the article is at its publisher. Nothing inside quotation marks anywhere on this page is ours: if it is quoted, it is the paper's. Whose words a concept carries. A concept entry records a term the paper itself uses, so the term, the sense given for it, and its evidence are the paper's own words, quoted where the paper fixes them. This is the opposite of a sense entry in the tag table, which is the tagger's sentence about how the paper uses a term. Where a concept entry could not be grounded in the paper's words, the entry says so on its own row.
Other fields define these differently the same word, defined another way in another discipline
null-hypothesis 3 fields · priming 2 fields

Tags on this paper

Every tag the record carries, each linking to every other paper in the corpus that carries it. A tag appears here whether or not its words occur in the article — the spans below are only the ones a sentence in this paper licenses. Of the 11 concept tags on this paper, 8 are grounded in a quoted sentence. 8 carry the tagger's gloss of what the term means in this paper, which is not something the article can license.
priming conceptual priming public goods game framing anchoring cooperative priming contributions free riding beliefs preferences word-search puzzle THE PRIME IS ARGUED TO WORK THROUGH PREFERENCES BECAUSE IT DEMONSTRABLY DID NOT WORK THROUGH BELIEFS - a null result carrying the mechanism claim: priming does not affect subjects' beliefs about other group members' contributions, INDICATING THAT PRIMING PRIMARILY SEEMS TO WORK BY CHANGING SUBJECTS' PREFERENCES ABOUT HOW MUCH TO CONTRIBUTE. The absent effect is the evidence, not a caveat about it A ONE-SHOT GAME IS CHOSEN TO BUY A CLEAN CAUSE RATHER THAN A REALISTIC SETTING: the reason for choosing a one-shot interaction over repeated interactions is that we wanted to investigate THE PURE EFFECTS OF OUR PRIMING PROCESS, without these being confounded with STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS THAT MAY ARISE FROM REPEATED INTERACTION. The design gives up the question of persistence to isolate the question of existence, and says so EXPOSURE TO THE PRIME IS GUARANTEED RATHER THAN ASSUMED, by handing out the puzzle's answers: Quotation withheld A subject who found none of the fifteen words still meets them THE DEMAND-EFFECT OBJECTION IS ANSWERED BY ASKING THE SUBJECTS AND THEN CONTROLLING FOR THEIR ANSWER: NONE of the subjects in the non-priming treatment and 16 OUT OF 75 in the priming treatment said the first task had affected the second, and with a dummy for those subjects the priming coefficient stays significant for contributions and insignificant for beliefs. The control is reported with its own numbers rather than asserted cooperation pro-social behaviour voluntary contributions priming manipulation null-hypothesis reject the null hypothesis p-value Mann-Whitney Mann-Whitney test behavioural-experiment

Legend

relation to other workclaim_relationshow this paper stands to another: agrees, contradicts, extends, qualifies
claim typeclaim_typethe shape of the claim: existence, mechanism, method, critique, prediction, null
concept edgeconcept_edgesan asserted relation between two concepts, with the sentence asserting it
conceptconceptsan idea the paper works with, quoted where the paper uses it
content tagcontent_tagsa finding, definition, quantity, statistic or variable named in the paper
controlcontrolsan experiment run to eliminate a rival explanation
limitationlimitationswhat the paper says its evidence cannot support
mechanismmechanismshow the reported effect is said to come about
methodmethodhow the paper produced its evidence
phenomenonphenomenonthe effect or regularity under study
sensesensesa distinct use of a term, quoted where the paper fixes it

The paper

The full text is not reproduced here. This article is not cleared for redistribution, so the page carries the tag layer only. Its evidence sentences are withheld; the grounding status remains with each tag, and the article itself is at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11238-015-9481-4. The reading view exists for the papers whose licence permits it.

Every tag on this page

claim_relations 3 · claim_type 1 · concept_edges 7 · concepts 8 · content_tags 10 · controls 3 · limitations 5 · mechanisms 4 · method 1 · phenomenon 1 · senses 4

Relations on this page carry a quotation for the claim. Where a relation was separately evidenced — and so tested against the vocabulary for its type — the row says so; none of 7 relations here carry that mark. The rest are the tagger’s reading of the sentence quoted beside them.

facettagfieldconf.whose words
claim_typeexistence
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
claim_typethe paper's words
phenomenoncooperative priming in a public goods game
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
phenomenonthe paper's words
methodbehavioural-experiment
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
methodthe paper's words
mechanismsmechanisms
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
mechanisms[0]0.95the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
mechanisms[1]0.95the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
mechanisms[2]0.95the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
mechanisms[3]0.95the tagger's words
limitationsOnly a one-shot game was run, so nothing can be said about whether the priming effect persists over repeated decisions.
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
limitations[0]the tagger's words
limitationsThe result does not generalise beyond the public goods game to other economically relevant behaviours.
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
limitations[1]the tagger's words
limitationsA single priming method (word-and-association semantic priming) was used, so the effect of other priming modes, including negative priming, is unknown.
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
limitations[2]the tagger's words
limitationsBeliefs were elicited after contribution decisions, making the belief measure endogenous to the behaviour it was meant to explain.
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
limitations[3]the tagger's words
limitationsThe priming manipulation is open to an experimenter demand interpretation, which the authors could only address post hoc with a questionnaire control.
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
limitations[4]the tagger's words
controlsa post-experimental questionnaire asked subjects outright whether they thought the priming task had affected their decisions
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
eliminates: that subjects saw through the priming manipulation and responded to what they believed the experimenter wanted · outcome (stated by the tagger, no quotation): held
controls[0]0.95the tagger's words
controlsbelief elicitation was deliberately NOT incentivised
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
eliminates: that paying for beliefs introduces an income effect which would confound the emotions being elicited · outcome (stated by the tagger, no quotation): held
controls[1]0.95the tagger's words
controlsthe puzzle solutions were handed out at the end of the allotted time
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
eliminates: that a subject who failed to solve the puzzle was never primed at all, leaving the treatment group only partly treated · outcome (stated by the tagger, no quotation): held
controls[2]0.95the tagger's words
conceptsframing
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: framing
concepts[3]0.95the paper's words
conceptsanchoring
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: anchoring
concepts[4]0.95the paper's words
conceptscooperative priming
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
concepts[5]0.95the paper's words
conceptscontributions
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: contributions
concepts[6]0.95the paper's words
conceptsfree riding
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: free riding
concepts[7]0.95the paper's words
conceptsbeliefs
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: beliefs
concepts[8]0.95the paper's words
conceptspreferences
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: preferences
concepts[9]0.95the paper's words
conceptsword-search puzzle
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
concepts[10]0.95the paper's words
sensespriming - taken by these authors from psychology in a FORMAL definition and then used in economics: previously activated information impacting the processing of subsequent information. The definition is procedural, which is why it can be transplanted across fields
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
senses[0]0.95the tagger's words
sensespriming, as distinguished from framing and anchoring - the distinction is drawn on WHAT IS LEFT UNTOUCHED: priming reinforces a pathway to a stimulus without re-describing the decision problem, whereas framing re-describes an equivalent problem and anchoring redirects attention
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
senses[1]0.95the tagger's words
sensescooperative priming, as delivered here - fifteen of the twenty hidden words carry the concept and five are neutral in both conditions, so the two treatments differ only in the fifteen. The construct is a WORD LIST, chosen by pre-test rating
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
senses[2]0.95the tagger's words
sensesbeliefs about others’ contributions - measured, unincentivised, and elicited AFTER the contribution decision, which the authors say makes them endogenous to the thing they are meant to explain
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
senses[3]0.95the tagger's words
claim_relationsextends → public goods experiments on explicit cooperation-fostering mechanisms (Fehr and Gächter 2000, 2002; Sefton et al. 2007; Isaac and Walker 1988; Bochet et al. 2006)
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
claim_relations[0]the tagger's words
claim_relationsextends → economic priming studies of religious identity, social outlook and social identity (Benjamin et al. 2010a, b; McKay et al. 2010; Atlas and Putterman 2011; Cappelen and Drange Hole 2011)
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
claim_relations[1]the tagger's words
claim_relationscontradicts → other-regarding preference models (Fehr and Schmidt 1999; Bolton and Ockenfels 2000)
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
claim_relations[2]the tagger's words
concept_edgespriming —distinct-from→ framing
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
differs in: WHETHER THE DECISION PROBLEM IS RE-DESCRIBED: framing restates a logically equivalent problem in a different light; priming leaves the problem alone and reinforces a pathway to a concept · strength of the relation: 0.95 · note: A boundary drawn by the authors in their own voice, not inferred by us - the sentence exists only to separate the three terms.
also in: priming · framing
concept_edges[0]0.95the tagger's words
concept_edgespriming —distinct-from→ anchoring
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
differs in: WHAT IS REDIRECTED: anchoring fixes the decision-maker's attention on a single trait or piece of information, leaving the problem and the concepts alone; priming reinforces a pathway to a concept without directing attention to it · strength of the relation: 0.95 · note: The second half of the same distinction, and the sentence defines both neighbours in one breath - framing by re-description, anchoring by attention.
also in: priming · anchoring
concept_edges[1]0.85the tagger's words
concept_edgescooperative priming —causes→ contributions
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
direction on the measure: increases · strength of the relation: 0.9 · note: The headline result, in the abstract's own words. Averages are 4.99 tokens neutral against 7.17 primed, one-sided Mann-Whitney p = 0.044.
concept_edges[2]0.95the tagger's words
concept_edgespriming —causes→ free riding
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
direction on the measure: reduces · strength of the relation: 0.85 · note: The same result stated as a reduction rather than an increase. Kept as its own edge because free riding is the behaviour the incentives reward, and it is the endpoint an economist would search on.
also in: priming · free riding
concept_edges[3]0.95the tagger's words
concept_edgespriming —causes→ beliefs
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
direction on the measure: no-change · strength of the relation: 0.1 — the record marks this weak · note: THE LOAD-BEARING NULL. This absence is what licenses the preferences claim in the same sentence, so it is not a caveat - remove it and the mechanism has no support.
also in: priming · beliefs
concept_edges[4]0.95the tagger's words
concept_edgespriming —causes→ preferences
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
strength of the relation: 0.8 · note: Weighted below the contribution effect because it is an INFERENCE FROM THE BELIEF NULL rather than a measurement - preferences were never observed directly, which is also why this edge carries no effect direction.
also in: priming · preferences
concept_edges[5]0.85the tagger's words
concept_edgespriming —operationalised-as→ word-search puzzle
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
strength of the relation: 0.95 · note: The whole construct is fifteen words hidden in a 16x16 letter matrix, self-completed, with the same five neutral words present in both conditions.
concept_edges[6]0.95the tagger's words
content_tagsan 11-percentage-point increase in giving (approx. 25% to 36% of endowment)
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
content_tags.quantities[0]the tagger's words
content_tags150 participants, 75 per treatment
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
content_tags.quantities[1]the tagger's words
content_tagscooperative priming raises contributions in a one-shot public goods game
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
content_tags.findings[0]the tagger's words
content_tagsprimed group contributed 7.17 tokens on average vs 4.99 for the neutrally-primed group
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
content_tags.findings[1]the tagger's words
content_tagsstandard economic theory predicts priming should have no impact on choices
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
content_tags.findings[2]the tagger's words
content_tagspriming manipulation
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
content_tags.variables[0]the tagger's words
content_tagspriming
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: priming
content_tags.definitions[0]the tagger's words
content_tagsnull-hypothesis
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
content_tags.statistics[0]the tagger's words
content_tagsp-value
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: p-value
content_tags.statistics[1]the tagger's words
content_tagsMann-Whitney
Quotation withheld — this record is not cleared for redistribution. The sentence is in the paper at the link above.
also in: Mann-Whitney
content_tags.statistics[2]the tagger's words

Interpretive choices

Tags that could not be placed in the text:

What was deliberately not tagged, and why, is recorded per paper by the tagger. Where a paper has no such record, this page says so rather than implying that nothing was declined.

© 2026 Shir Sivroni · ORCID 0009-0000-2597-2824