Dessi, Roberta, Gallo, Edoardo and Goyal, Sanjeev (2016) Network Cognition. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, vol.163. pp. 78-96.

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Abstract

We study individual ability to memorize and recall information about friendship networks using a combination of experiments and survey-based data. In the experiment subjects are shown a network, in which their location is exogenously assigned, and they are then asked questions about the network after it disappears. We find that subjects exhibit three main cognitive biases: (i) they underestimate the mean degree compared to the actual network; (ii) they overestimate the number of rare degrees; (iii) they underestimate the number of frequent degrees. We then analyze survey data from two ‘real’ friendship networks from a Silicon Valley firm and from a University Research Center. We find, somewhat remarkably, that individuals in these real networks also exhibit these biases.

Item Type: Article
Language: English
Date: March 2016
Refereed: Yes
Subjects: B- ECONOMIE ET FINANCE
Divisions: TSE-R (Toulouse)
Site: UT1
Date Deposited: 15 Dec 2015 09:13
Last Modified: 18 Jul 2023 08:44
OAI Identifier: oai:tse-fr.eu:29977
URI: https://publications.ut-capitole.fr/id/eprint/19170

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