Articles
Research Interests
My main research interest is in the study of individual and group behavior in interactive situations. I focus mainly on situations defined as social dilemmas, such as the public goods and the common pool resource (CPR) dilemmas. In this line of research I have devoted special effort to investigating the effects of various sources of social and environmental uncertainty on individual and group performance. Usually, though not exclusively, I have approached these issues through a methodology which combines derivation of formal models to generate predictions, and controlled laboratory experiments that utilize simple strategic games.
Recently, I have expanded my interest in behavior under uncertainty in two directions. In the context of social dilemmas, together with Gary Bornstein and Taly Weiss (a Ph. D. student), I conducted a series of experiments designed to investigate the role of environmental uncertainty as motivator for group formation. Our working hypothesis, strongly supported by the results, is that under conditions of environmental uncertainty individuals join existing groups and create new ones in order to secure “near average” outcomes, as means for uncertainty reduction. In another line of research, together with Dr. Keren Or-Chen I conducted a series of simple “lottery experiments” (similar to those used in the Prospect Theory research) in order to investigate the effects of “minimal” social contexts on individual choice behavior under uncertainty. An intriguing finding of this research suggests that the mere presence of another individual is sufficient to make others behave in a more risk-seeking manner. Other findings indicate that even in the absence of interdependence between decision-makers, risk preferences are influenced by processes of social comparison in a manner that depends on the type of information available to each decision-maker about his or her counterpart. These two research projects are now close to completion.
Another closely related line of research, despite differences in methodology, concerns the evolution of cooperation in large groups. In collaboration with Ilan Fischer we constructed several computer simulations, which we apply to study the dynamics of ingroup and intergroup interactions and the conditions required for the evolution and sustenance of within-group and between-group cooperation.
Another research project, which I have started recently in collaboration with Oren Eilam, concerns the investigation of rules that govern behaviors, cognitions, and emotions involved in giving and receiving trust. The experimental paradigm we apply in this research is quite similar to the one I use for studying social dilemmas. A pilot study has been submitted to the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
In addition to the study of social dilemmas, I am interested in investigating issues related to social identity and inter-group relations, with special focus on the collective identity of Palestinians in Israel and on Jewish-Arab relations in Israel.
Recently I became interested in theoretical physics, particularly in relativity theory, to which I am devoting a substantial part of my effort.