Misperceived Discrimination
Measuring Misperceived Discrimination 
 using Investment Games
Merlin Schaeffer & Judith Kas
2022-07-19
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How accurate do persons of immigrant origin perceive ethnic discrimination?

Challenges

No aggregate analysis: Measure actual and perceived discrimination for individuals.
Mis-perceptions $\neq$ correlation: Measure actual and perceived discrimination on the same scale.
Ethics: Researchers must not discriminate participants.

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Central idea Mutual evaulation in behavioral games

Two players' mutual evaluation.
Clear metric: €.

$\to$ Observe actual € sent.

$\to$ Survey expected € received.

True first name & city of residence from registers
Alisina, Ahmad, Anne, Binyamin, Joyce, Somaia, Sarah, Hayriye, Saibe, Björn, Salem, Fabienne, Sadet, Linda, Margarita, Ali, Joseph, Mhd Kheir, Baran, Bahaa, Jebran, Reno, Seiji, Irina, Ajsel, Christine, Rahim, Yaw Abrefa, Mark, Anjali Dev, Elmar, Anke, Laura, Heiko, ...

3 / 27

10 Trust games per participant

Mainstream¹ participants:
- 3 games with mainstream players.
- 7 games with immigrant origin players.

Immigrant origin² participants:
- 7 games with mainstream players.
- 3 games with immigrant origin players.

$\to$ Observe actual € sent to others.

1: Born in Germany and both parents born in Germany.
2: Born abroad or at least one parent born abroad.

4 / 27

Sample

1 Pre-game survey Jul-Oct '21 $\to$ 2 Trust games Nov-Dec '21 $\to$ 3 Pay-out experiment Mar '22

Stratified random sample from German registers.
Invitation via postal mail.
Online surveys/games in German.
Response rate approx. 12%-4%.

imor		Hamburg	Köln	Frankfurt am Main	München	Berlin	All
Mainstream	N	198	222	204	184	243	1051
	% row	18.8	21.1	19.4	17.5	23.1	100.0
Immigrant	N	118	90	113	153	101	575
	% row	20.5	15.7	19.7	26.6	17.6	100.0
Child of immigrant	N	66	100	61	84	72	383
	% row	17.2	26.1	15.9	21.9	18.8	100.0
All	N	382	412	378	421	416	2009
	% row	19.0	20.5	18.8	21.0	20.7	100.0

5 / 27

Perceived discrimination

Do immigrant minorities (mis-)perceive discrimination when they asked to frame a cue of ethnic inequality?

6 / 27

Pay-out experiment Disadvantage cue

On average, your ten game partners sent and thereby entrusted 6 € to you.

In addition, your ten game partners played trust games with other 68 more participants. 25 of these other participants had names that sound typically German.

Below you see a selection of three of these participants with names that sound typically German.

On average, your game partners sent and thereby entrusted 8 € to these three persons:

Annegret from Hamburg

Klaus from Berlin

Hartmut from München

The three have thus received 2 € more than you. How do you rate this result?

7 / 27

Pay-out experiment Advantage cue

On average, your ten game partners sent and thereby entrusted 8 € to you.

In addition, your ten game partners played trust games with other 68 more participants. 25 of these other participants had names that sound typically German.

Below you see a selection of three of these participants with names that sound typically German.

On average, your game partners sent and thereby entrusted 6 € to these three persons:

Annegret from Hamburg

Klaus from Berlin

Hartmut from München

The three have thus received 2 € less than you. How do you rate this result?

8 / 27

Pay-out experiment Equality cue

On average, your ten game partners sent and thereby entrusted 7 € to you.

In addition, your ten game partners played trust games with other 68 more participants. 25 of these other participants had names that sound typically German.

Below you see a selection of three of these participants with names that sound typically German.

On average, your game partners sent and thereby entrusted 7 € to these three persons:

Annegret from Hamburg

Klaus from Berlin

Hartmut from München

The three have thus received the same amount as. How do you rate this result?

9 / 27

May name played a role ...

10 / 27

May name played a role ...

11 / 27

May name played a role ...

12 / 27

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

13 / 27

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

14 / 27

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

15 / 27

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

But how accurate are these perceptions?

About: whether their name did (not) play a role?
About whether Merlins were generally:
(today focus on) disadvantaged?

16 / 27

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

17 / 27

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

18 / 27

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

19 / 27

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

20 / 27

Accurate perceptions People with my name

21 / 27

Accurate perceptions People with my name

22 / 27

Accurate perceptions People with my name

23 / 27

Accurate perceptions People with my name

24 / 27

Complex data and no blueprint ...

25 / 27

Conclusion for now ...People perceive discrimination once ethnicity is made salient.... even under the equal cue!

Immigrant minorities with a German-sounding name are perceiving advantage similar to those with a non-German name perceiving disadvantage.

People generalize their personal experience to equivalent others ≈≈ 1:1.

People seem somewhat better than random at perceiving ethnic discrimination.Especially the absence of it!
(... in the absence of obvious racial slurs etc.)

26 / 27

Conclusion for now ...

People perceive discrimination once ethnicity is made salient.
- ... even under the equal cue!

Immigrant minorities with a German-sounding name are perceiving advantage similar to those with a non-German name perceiving disadvantage.

People generalize their personal experience to equivalent others $\approx$ 1:1.

People seem somewhat better than random at perceiving ethnic discrimination.
- Especially the absence of it!
- (... in the absence of obvious racial slurs etc.)

Thank you for your attention!

Please contact me,
if you have alternative ideas on how these data can be used and would like to team-up

26 / 27

References

NULL

27 / 27

Misperceived Discrimination
Measuring Misperceived Discrimination 
 using Investment Games
Merlin Schaeffer & Judith Kas
2022-07-19
1 / 27

How accurate do persons of immigrant origin perceive ethnic discrimination?

Challenges

No aggregate analysis: Measure actual and perceived discrimination for individuals.
Mis-perceptions $\neq$ correlation: Measure actual and perceived discrimination on the same scale.
Ethics: Researchers must not discriminate participants.

2 / 27

Central idea Mutual evaulation in behavioral games

Two players' mutual evaluation.
Clear metric: €.

$\to$ Observe actual € sent.

$\to$ Survey expected € received.

3 / 27

10 Trust games per participant

Mainstream¹ participants:
- 3 games with mainstream players.
- 7 games with immigrant origin players.

Immigrant origin² participants:
- 7 games with mainstream players.
- 3 games with immigrant origin players.

$\to$ Observe actual € sent to others.

1: Born in Germany and both parents born in Germany.
2: Born abroad or at least one parent born abroad.

4 / 27

Sample

1 Pre-game survey Jul-Oct '21 $\to$ 2 Trust games Nov-Dec '21 $\to$ 3 Pay-out experiment Mar '22

Stratified random sample from German registers.
Invitation via postal mail.
Online surveys/games in German.
Response rate approx. 12%-4%.

imor		Hamburg	Köln	Frankfurt am Main	München	Berlin	All
Mainstream	N	198	222	204	184	243	1051
	% row	18.8	21.1	19.4	17.5	23.1	100.0
Immigrant	N	118	90	113	153	101	575
	% row	20.5	15.7	19.7	26.6	17.6	100.0
Child of immigrant	N	66	100	61	84	72	383
	% row	17.2	26.1	15.9	21.9	18.8	100.0
All	N	382	412	378	421	416	2009
	% row	19.0	20.5	18.8	21.0	20.7	100.0

5 / 27

Perceived discrimination

Do immigrant minorities (mis-)perceive discrimination when they asked to frame a cue of ethnic inequality?

6 / 27

Pay-out experiment Disadvantage cue

On average, your ten game partners sent and thereby entrusted 6 € to you.

In addition, your ten game partners played trust games with other 68 more participants. 25 of these other participants had names that sound typically German.

Below you see a selection of three of these participants with names that sound typically German.

On average, your game partners sent and thereby entrusted 8 € to these three persons:

Annegret from Hamburg

Klaus from Berlin

Hartmut from München

The three have thus received 2 € more than you. How do you rate this result?

7 / 27

Pay-out experiment Advantage cue

On average, your ten game partners sent and thereby entrusted 8 € to you.

In addition, your ten game partners played trust games with other 68 more participants. 25 of these other participants had names that sound typically German.

Below you see a selection of three of these participants with names that sound typically German.

On average, your game partners sent and thereby entrusted 6 € to these three persons:

Annegret from Hamburg

Klaus from Berlin

Hartmut from München

The three have thus received 2 € less than you. How do you rate this result?

8 / 27

Pay-out experiment Equality cue

On average, your ten game partners sent and thereby entrusted 7 € to you.

In addition, your ten game partners played trust games with other 68 more participants. 25 of these other participants had names that sound typically German.

Below you see a selection of three of these participants with names that sound typically German.

On average, your game partners sent and thereby entrusted 7 € to these three persons:

Annegret from Hamburg

Klaus from Berlin

Hartmut from München

The three have thus received the same amount as. How do you rate this result?

9 / 27

May name played a role ...

10 / 27

May name played a role ...

11 / 27

May name played a role ...

12 / 27

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

13 / 27

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

14 / 27

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

15 / 27

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

But how accurate are these perceptions?

About: whether their name did (not) play a role?
About whether Merlins were generally:
(today focus on) disadvantaged?

16 / 27

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

17 / 27

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

18 / 27

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

19 / 27

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

20 / 27

Accurate perceptions People with my name

21 / 27

Accurate perceptions People with my name

22 / 27

Accurate perceptions People with my name

23 / 27

Accurate perceptions People with my name

24 / 27

Complex data and no blueprint ...

25 / 27

Conclusion for now ...People perceive discrimination once ethnicity is made salient.... even under the equal cue!

Immigrant minorities with a German-sounding name are perceiving advantage similar to those with a non-German name perceiving disadvantage.

People generalize their personal experience to equivalent others ≈≈ 1:1.

People seem somewhat better than random at perceiving ethnic discrimination.Especially the absence of it!
(... in the absence of obvious racial slurs etc.)

26 / 27

Conclusion for now ...

People perceive discrimination once ethnicity is made salient.
- ... even under the equal cue!

Immigrant minorities with a German-sounding name are perceiving advantage similar to those with a non-German name perceiving disadvantage.

People generalize their personal experience to equivalent others $\approx$ 1:1.

People seem somewhat better than random at perceiving ethnic discrimination.
- Especially the absence of it!
- (... in the absence of obvious racial slurs etc.)

Thank you for your attention!

Please contact me,
if you have alternative ideas on how these data can be used and would like to team-up

26 / 27

References

NULL

27 / 27

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Misperceived Discrimination

Measuring Misperceived Discrimination using Investment Games

Merlin Schaeffer & Judith Kas

2022-07-19

How accurate do persons of immigrant origin perceive ethnic discrimination?

Central idea Mutual evaulation in behavioral games

10 Trust games per participant

Sample

Perceived discrimination

Pay-out experiment Disadvantage cue

Pay-out experiment Advantage cue

Pay-out experiment Equality cue

May name played a role ...

May name played a role ...

May name played a role ...

"Were participants called Merlin generally advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

"Were participants called Merlin generally advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

"Were participants called Merlin generally advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

"Were participants called Merlin generally advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

But how accurate are these perceptions?

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

Accurate perceptions People with my name

Accurate perceptions People with my name

Accurate perceptions People with my name

Accurate perceptions People with my name

Complex data and no blueprint ...

Conclusion for now ...

Conclusion for now ...

References

How accurate do persons of immigrant origin perceive ethnic discrimination?

Help

Misperceived Discrimination

Misperceived Discrimination

Measuring Misperceived Discrimination using Investment Games

Merlin Schaeffer & Judith Kas

2022-07-19

How accurate do persons of immigrant origin perceive ethnic discrimination?

Central idea Mutual evaulation in behavioral games

10 Trust games per participant

Sample

Perceived discrimination

Pay-out experiment Disadvantage cue

Pay-out experiment Advantage cue

Pay-out experiment Equality cue

May name played a role ...

May name played a role ...

May name played a role ...

"Were participants called Merlin generally advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

"Were participants called Merlin generally advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

"Were participants called Merlin generally advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

"Were participants called Merlin generally advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

But how accurate are these perceptions?

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

Accurate perceptions My name played a role

Accurate perceptions People with my name

Accurate perceptions People with my name

Accurate perceptions People with my name

Accurate perceptions People with my name

Complex data and no blueprint ...

Conclusion for now ...

Conclusion for now ...

References

Measuring Misperceived Discrimination
using Investment Games

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

Measuring Misperceived Discrimination
using Investment Games

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"

"Were participants called Merlin generally
advantaged, treated equally, or disadvantaged by their game partners?"