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Consent form was presented here (redacted to withdraw author information).

Instructions:

By accepting this HIT, you have already earned $0.50, but in doing the HIT you will have the chance to earn even more money, which will be paid to you as a "bonus payment" through Mechanical Turk. All of the instructions that you read beyond this point refer to money that you can earn above and beyond the $0.50 you have already earned.

In this study, you will participate in an interaction with three other Turkers doing the same task. You and the other participants will play different roles in a hypothetical scenario, and you each will receive unique instructions. It is important to note that your partners will not necessarily have the same information that you do, and so you should not assume that they know anything that you do, unless we explicitly say so. You will be randomly assigned to one role, and they will be randomly assigned to another role. You will have the chance to earn money (paid to you as a "bonus payment"), depending on the decisions that are made in the interaction. You all will make decisions in the interaction, and the amount of money that you earn depends upon both the decision that you make, as well as the decisions that your partners make.

Please read all instructions carefully and make sure to answer all of the questions. If you do not answer all of the questions the HIT will be rejected and you will not be paid. There will be a few comprehension questions after you make your decision. Note that you must answer the comprehension questions correctly in order to earn additional money (the bonus payment) from the interaction.

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Please read the following scenario describing your interaction:

Please Note: As you read on the last page, you automatically earn $0.50 for completing the HIT, and all money referred to from here on out is money that you can earn as a bonus payment in addition to the $0.50 you earn for doing the HIT.

***We understand this scenario is a little lengthy, and a little difficult to understand, but we promise it will be worth your while to make sure you clearly understand it. After you read the text below, you will have to make just one brief decision where you have the opportunity to triple your earnings for this HIT. However, in order to receive your bonus payment, you must answer a few questions at the end showing that you clearly understood the situation presented.***

Imagine that you are a butcher who works in a large town. The town also has a bakery, a cheese shop, and a produce shop, but a large number of different merchants work in each of these respective shops on different days, so you never know who the merchant in any of these shops is on a given day. You all work in separate parts of town from each other, but each day you all go to the same midtown market to sell your products. Occasionally you work with the three other merchants to sell a regional specialty, Superburgers, which require four different ingredients (hamburgers, buns, cheese, and special toppings) from all four merchants, but most days you sell your own products independently. Every day you and the three other merchants have to decide whether to work together to make Superburgers, or work independently: you would make chicken wings. Unfortunately, the telephone service is not working, and so each of you has to decide on your own what to bring to the market without being able to communicate with one another. The price of chicken wings in the market is the same every day, so you know that if you decide to make chicken wings today you will be guaranteed $1.00 in earnings. However, the price of Superburgers varies unpredictably from day to day. When you work together to sell Superburgers, you and the other merchants split the money equally. On some days Superburgers are cheap, and you can only sell them for $1.60, so you each only earn 40 cents. On other days they get a good price of $4.40, so you each earn $1.10. Unfortunately, without phone service, you can't all be sure of the going price. To summarize: If you decide to make chicken wings, you are guaranteed to earn $1.00. If you and all the other merchants decide to make Superburgers, you will each earn either $0.40 or $1.10 (depending on today's price). Since you cannot sell Superburgers without all four of the ingredients, if you decide to sell Superburgers and even one of the other three merchants does not, then you will earn $0. What this means is that making Superburgers is riskier for you than making chicken wings. And since Superburgers cannot be made without all four of the ingredients, making Superburgers is a risky option for the other three merchants as well. Fortunately, information about the price of Superburgers can sometimes be communicated in one of two ways. There are several Messenger Boys who run from stall to stall and tell merchants the going prices of various food products, though they don't always make it to every merchant, and they don't always tell a merchant which other merchants they have visited. A Messenger Boy delivers his message in a blue box, which only you can see. You will need to click "Show Me" on your box to see if a Messenger Boy came by with this information before you make your decision for the day. The other way that price information can be communicated is over a Loudspeaker, which all the merchants can hear. The information announced on the loudspeaker is shown in a green box, which everyone, including the other three merchants, can hear. Let's go through a couple of examples. Since you'll have an opportunity to make extra money by deciding to make chicken wings or Superburgers, and the amount you make depends a lot on your understanding of how the market works, it is important that you understand the market exactly. If the examples seem confusing, we encourage you to re-read the scenario carefully, to be sure you understand the conditions--the time and effort will pay off for you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Example 1: Today the price of Superburgers is $4.40, so your share would be $1.10. You and two other merchants decide to make Superburgers, but one merchant decides to work independently. What would each of your earnings be? (*Reminder: We are asking about your bonus payment only, not including your HIT payment*) You: $0 The other two merchants who tried to make Superburgers: $0 each The merchant who decided to work independently: $1.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Example 2: Today the price of Superburgers is $4.40, so your share would be $1.10. You and the other three merchants all decide to make Superburgers. What would each of your earnings be? You: $1.10 The other three merchants: $1.10 each ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Example 3: Today the price of Superburgers is $1.60, so your share would be 40 cents. You and the other three merchants all decide to make Superburgers. What would each of your earnings be? You: $0.40 The other three merchants: $0.40 each ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Example 4: Today the price of Superburgers is $1.60, so your share would be 40 cents. The other three merchants decide to go for Superburgers but you do not, and make chicken wings instead. What would each of your earnings be? You: $1.00 The other three merchants: $0 each

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Click "Proceed" to find out what information you have to make your decision.

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2. Please describe why you made the decision that you did.

For the following questions, please assume that your earnings for the Superburgers today would have been $1.10.

       3a. If you and the other merchants all chose to make Superburgers, then how much money would you earn for the interaction above your HIT payment (what would your MTurk bonus payment be)?

       3b. If you chose to make Superburgers but the other merchants did not, then how much money would you earn for the interaction above your HIT payment (what would your MTurk bonus payment be)?

       3c. If you chose not to make Superburgers, regardless of what the other merchants decided, then how much money would you earn for the interaction above your HIT payment (what would your MTurk bonus payment be)?

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Personal Information 1. What is your gender?            Male            Female 2. What is your age?            Years 3. What is your geographic location? (city, state, country)            (City) (State) (Country) 4. What is your ethnicity?             5. Please provide any comments you may have below.

Thank you for your participation! If you earned extra money, then your money will be paid to you as an MTurk bonus. Before we can pay the bonuses we need to get all of the responses in, and calculate all of the payouts which takes a little time. So it may take up to a week to receive your bonus payment after you complete the study, and there may also be a delay between when you get paid for the HIT and when we send you the bonus payment. Sorry for the delay, but we appreciate your patience. Please, now press "Submit," to complete this HIT.