Kai Barron’s research while affiliated with WZB Berlin Social Science Center and other places

... Moral values and factual beliefs also contribute to the entrenchment of polarized norms. Barron et al. (2024) investigate the relationship between moral values ('ought' statements) and factual beliefs ('is' statements) in the context of political polarization. Their large-scale online experiment with over 1,800 U.S. participants demonstrates that when people reflect on their values, their factual beliefs shift to align with those values, reinforcing pre-existing political biases. ...

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Social Norms: Enforcement, Breakdown & Polarization

... Indeed, there exists a large body of research demonstrating systematic biases in economic agents' belief updating behavior (see e.g. Ambuehl and Li, 2018;Esponda and Vespa, 2018;Barron et al., 2019;Enke, 2020). In particular, we consider understanding the effects of selection neglect or coarse reasoning as modeled by Jehiel and Koessler (2008) as well as Eyster and Rabin (2005) on the possibilites for information transmission in the presence of fake news a promising direction for future research. ...

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Essays in Behavioral Economics and Microeconomic Theory

... We show that participants can recall mostly SMS content that they were already aware of and that called them to action. This is in line with other studies that showed SMS don't always increase knowledge but can still work as a reminder or nudge despite not clearly transmitting new information (e.g., Banerjee et al., 2020;Bettinger et al., 2021) and is supported by the existence of a strong demand for reminders in medical adherence due to memory costs (Barron et al., 2022). Moreover, our intervention allows us to gain insights into the facility choice that individuals make. ...

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The effect of SMS reminders on health screening uptake: A randomized experiment in Indonesia

... For reminders that focus on less frequent or even one-off events such as college enrollment or parking tickets, interindividual differences in the effectiveness of reminders have been found, with low-responders being more likely to come from disadvantaged groups 21,29 . In recent years, efforts have also focused on how the positive effects of reminders can be enhanced, through the timing and frequency with which they are sent 30 but also through the amount of information included 31 . ...

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Smartphone-based study reminders can be a double-edged sword

... Among Syrian refugee adolescents in Turkey, 65% reported loneliness (Solmaz et al., 2021), and among Syrian refugee children in Jordan, the prevalence was 25% (Hamdan-Mansour et al., 2017). Discrimination has been shown to be associated with worse mental health in Syrian refugees, both adults, and children, across different cultures (Barron et al., 2021;Çelebi et al., 2017;Demir and Ozgul, 2019;Kandemir et al., 2018;Tinghög et al., 2017;Walker and Zuberi, 2020). Religious alienation, in this case being Muslim, seems to increase the risk of discrimination (Kandemir et al., 2018;von Haumeder et al., 2019). ...

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The effects of war, displacement, and trauma on child development

... Employment confidence, a pivotal metric affecting career decisions and labor market entry, reflects individuals' self-assessment of employability skills, job market knowledge, and their ability to meet employer expectations (Barron & Gravert, 2022;Qenani et al., 2014). High employment confidence correlates with better job prospects and psychological well-being during career transitions, spurring proactive career preparation and readiness for job opportunities, which, in turn, enhances the likelihood of career success (Creed et al., 2003;R. ...

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Can ChatGPT Boost Students’ Employment Confidence? A Pioneering Booster for Career Readiness

... The authors find in-group favoritism for Syrian refugees living in both countries, but not for nationals, and find that nationals do not discriminate against refugees. Using a different age cohort as sample, Barron et al. (2020) conduct experiments with native Jordanian children and Syrian refugee children attending school in Jordan. They find little discrimination using a sharing experimental task. ...

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Interactions in a high immigration context

... Gråd et al. (2024) found that three types of nudges increased charity donations in an online experiment. In public goods games, setting a default option leads to higher contributions and facilitates the coordination of decisions (Barron & Nurminen, 2020). This effect is often attributed to the default option acting as a reference point that simplifies decision-making and encourages cooperative behavior in collective action. ...

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Overbidding in contests – can nudging decrease expenditures? Experimental evidence

... This self-serving bias ensures that their risk taking behavior remains consistent with their desire to improve or maintain their social standing. Studies show that individuals process information asymmetrically, giving more weight to positive news than to negative news (Coutts, 2019;Kuhnen, 2015;Mobius et al., 2011;Barron, 2021). This asymmetry means that positive information about peers' successes is more influential in shaping one's risk taking decisions than negative information about peers' failures. ...

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Social Reference Points Shape Decisions Under Uncertainty

... Belief in one's ability to do a job will greatly affect work outcomes (Barron & Gravert, 2018;Ristiani & Lusianingrum, 2022). Teachers who have high academic achievement and are supported by high self-efficacy will view their work not as a burden but as a very mild challenge. ...

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Analysis of the indirect correlation between academic achievement, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and self-efficacy on teaching readiness