Abstract
Evolutionary psychology suggests that men are more likely than women to deceive to bolster their status and influence. Also gender perception influences deceptive behavior, which is linked to pervasive gender stereotypes: women are typically viewed as weaker and more gullible than men. We assessed bluffing in an online experiment (N = 502), where participants made decisions to bluff or not in simulated poker tasks against opponents represented by avatars. Participants bluffed on average 6% more frequently at poker tables with femaleonly avatars than at tables with male-only or gender mixed avatars-a highly significant effect in games involving repeated decisions. Nonetheless, participants did not believe the avatar genders affected their decisions. Males bluffed 13% more frequently than females. Unlike most economic games employed exclusively in research contexts, online poker is played for money by tens of millions of people worldwide. Thus, gender effects in bluffing have significant monetary consequences for poker players.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 0157838 |
Journal | PLoS One |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 7 |
Number of pages | 13 |
ISSN | 1932-6203 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 6 Jul 2016 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Fields of Science
- 515 Psychology
- 6162 Cognitive science