Data and Code for "Anticipatory Anxiety and Wishful Thinking"

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Jan Engelmann, University of Amsterdam; Mael Lebreton, Paris School of Economics; Nahuel Salem-Garcia, University of Geneva; Peter Schwardmann, Carnegie Mellon University; Joël van der Weele, University of Amsterdam

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
Data_package			12/14/2023 01:33:PM

Project Citation:

Engelmann, Jan, Lebreton, Mael, Salem-Garcia, Nahuel, Schwardmann, Peter, and van der Weele, Joël. Data and Code for “Anticipatory Anxiety and Wishful Thinking.” Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2024. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-03-04. https://doi.org/10.3886/E195781V1

Project Description

Summary: Across five experiments (N=1,714), we test whether people engage in wishful thinking to alleviate anxiety about adverse future outcomes. Participants perform pattern recognition tasks in which some patterns may result in an electric shock or a monetary loss. Diagnostic of wishful thinking, participants are less likely to correctly identify patterns that are associated with a shock or loss. Wishful thinking is more pronounced under more ambiguous signals and only reduced by higher accuracy incentives when participants' cognitive effort reduces ambiguity. Wishful thinking disappears in the domain of monetary gains, indicating that negative emotions are important drivers of the phenomenon.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: confidence; experiments ; anticipatory utility; anxiety; motivated beliefs

JEL Classification:
C91 Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual
D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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Published Versions

V1 [2024-03-04]

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DDI 2.5

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