Figure 1
From: Self-competence increases the willingness to pay for social influence
Schematic of one trial of the advice-giving task in Experiments 1 and 2. Participants played the role of an adviser competing with a rival adviser for influence over a client. Each trial consisted of six stages: (1) The client’s selected adviser was revealed, determining whose advice the client would follow in the upcoming trial (and consequently which adviser would be ignored). (2) The participant saw a grid of black and white squares whose ratio represented the probability of the coin being in the black urn. (3) The participant stated their advice on coin location using a 10-level confidence scale ranging from “definitely in the black urn” to “definitely in the white urn.” (4) Both advisers’ advice was displayed. (5) The content of the urn suggested by the selected adviser (magenta circle) was revealed. (6) The participants were asked if they were willing to pay to increase their influence on the client (thereby increasing the probability of being chosen by the client on the next trial). On the following trial the client could choose the same adviser or switch advisers according to the outcome of the recent trial and whether the participant paid to increase their influence. A working demonstration of the task is available at www.urihertz.net/AdviserDemoPay.
