%A Roberta Dessi
%A Edoardo Gallo
%A Sanjeev Goyal
%J Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
%T Network Cognition
%X 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.
%P 78-96
%V vol.163
%D 2016
%I Elsevier
%L publications19170