Empathy gaps and decisions: The case of curiosity

Abstract

Empathy gaps occur when people are in one fleeting state and try to predict how they would behave in a different state. Research shows consistently that people underestimate those current influences. An empathy gap has also been shown for curiosity such that people underestimate the influence curiosity has on their decisions. We successfully replicate the original finding by Loewenstein, Prelec and Shatto (1998). In addition, we show that empathy gaps also occur when participants try to predict other people. We argue that the overreliance on current states is due to the use of simulation as prediction strategy. If, however, more use of a theory is facilitated by presenting participants a wellknown other person (where theory use is likely), predictions become less egocentric and different from the self.