The Effect of Political Bias in Non-Political Strategic Interactions

Abstract

How does political bias affect behavior in day-to-day interactions with other people? Does a person’s behavior change based on the political identity of those they interact with? An important step in answering these questions is to study what types of determinants impact behavior, how behavior is affected, and to measure the extent of any observed changes that might occur. This research set up a simulation between proposers and hypothetical responders to track changes in the proposer’s behavior during the strategic interaction. The results showed that when the political identity of the hypothetical responder was Republican, the behavior of two groups, No Party Affiliated proposers and Democrat proposers, was affected. There were no significant findings of positive bias in the distribution of money allocated within party groups.