Wallet Experiment Data

Experiment I. All wallets (n = 113) contained some consumer cards, a Swiss rail voucher (value 5 CHF, not visible), a used (obviously real) front door key and a coded USB stick with the inscription "business documents" and a banknote of 10 CHF (about 10 US $) as filling material. Varying the business card inside was by occupational status and name. The four treatments are: Urs Mayer (tailor); Dr. oec. Urs Mayer (manager); Mahmut El Hakim (tailor), Dr. oec. Mahmut El Hakim (manager). In Experiment II (n = 110), the wallet contained the relatively large amount of money of CHF 108 (about 100 US $); of this, 100 CHF was in banknotes, the rest in coins. The remaining contents corresponded to Experiment I. Additionally, the treatment "with/without key and USB stick" was introduced. In 56 cases there was a key/USB-stick in the wallet while 54 wallets were laid out without key/USB-stick. In both experiments, the wallets were left at streetcar and bus stops. They were systematically distributed along the streetcar lines in the city. This was largely randomized, i.e. purses of the different treatments were laid out alternately. Each event was recorded in detail on an observation sheet. Police and lost and found offices were informed and asked to cooperate. Very often, however, the lost property could be returned after a mobile phone contact (made possible by the phone numbers written on the business cards). Finders were offered a reward of 20 CHF. The experiments were conducted in 2019/20 before the start of the pandemic. With the 2 x 2 - design of the business cards, the effect of status and a possible effect of discrimination can be determined. Key and USB-stick provided with a code are worthless for the finder. However, depending on the degree of empathy, she or he may imagine that the key and USB stick are of high value to the loser. Differences in the return rates of the wallets with or without key and USB-stick can indicate an empathy effect.

实验一：共设置113份钱包样本，每份钱包均包含若干消费卡、1张面值5瑞士法郎（CHF）的不可见瑞士铁路优惠券、1把经确认属实的使用过的前门钥匙、1枚刻有“商务文件”字样的加密U盘（coded USB stick），以及1张10瑞士法郎（约合10美元）的纸币作为填充物料。钱包内的名片按职业身份与姓名进行变量设置，共设4个处理组：乌尔斯·迈尔（裁缝）、经济学博士（Dr. oec.）乌尔斯·迈尔（经理）、马赫穆特·埃尔·哈基姆（裁缝）、经济学博士（Dr. oec.）马赫穆特·埃尔·哈基姆（经理）。实验二：样本量为110，每份钱包内放置了金额较高的108瑞士法郎（约合100美元），其中100瑞士法郎为纸币，剩余部分为硬币。其余物品与实验一完全一致，此外新增“是否附带钥匙与U盘”的处理变量：56份钱包内置钥匙/U盘，54份钱包未放置该类物品。两项实验中，所有钱包均被放置于有轨电车与公交车站点，并沿城市有轨电车线路进行系统性分布，且基本实现随机化分配，即不同处理组的钱包交替放置。每一处放置操作均在观察记录表上进行详细记录。研究人员同步告知警方与失物招领处，请求其协助配合。不过多数情况下，可通过名片上标注的手机号码联系失主，完成遗失钱包的归还。为激励拾获者，研究人员为每位成功归还钱包的拾获者提供20瑞士法郎的报酬。本实验于2019/20年新冠疫情暴发前开展。基于名片的2×2实验设计，可分别检验职业身份的影响效应，以及潜在的歧视效应。带编码的钥匙与U盘对拾获者而言并无实际价值，但基于共情程度的差异，拾获者可能会认为此类物品对失主具有较高价值。对比附带与未附带钥匙、U盘的钱包的归还率差异，可推断共情效应的存在。