Presenter

Simin He, Professor, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

Bio: Simin He is a Professor at the School of Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. She has received a PhD of Economics at the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests are behavioral and experimental economics, with a focus on behavioral game theory, mechanism design, and individual belief formation. Her work has been published in journals such as Management Science, Journal of Economic Theory, Economic Journal, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Games and Economic Behavior, etc. She has received multiple grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Abstract

In everyday life, individuals construct narratives by collecting observations and forming mental models to interpret the data. Consequently, even when addressing the same topic, people may develop different narratives, which can be attributed to variations in their observations or mental models. In a laboratory study, we explore how individuals can form different narratives even when there is only one true narrative. Further, we investigate the effect of communication between people with differing narratives, varying whether they can share their observations, or whether they articulate how they form their narratives. This experimental design enables us to decompose why communication between people with differing narratives may not facilitate the discovery of the truth or lead to a consensus. Our experimental results reveal that people are less likely to change their narratives once they articulate their mental models.