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.

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• Network Cognition. (deposited 09 Jul 2014 17:31)
  • Network Cognition. (deposited 15 Dec 2015 09:13) [Currently Displayed]