Confusion remains an important issue in public goods game experiments

The article “Confusion cannot explain cooperative behavior in public goods games” by Wang et al. (1) is based on two experiments that modify and replicate Burton-Chellew, El Mouden & West (BEW) (2). Wang et al. implement a pregame quiz about the game’s incentives sometimes used in the literature (3), but in contrast to BEW, subjects cannot proceed until they have answered the questions correctly. After this quiz, Wang et al. measure comprehension and report that only 2.5% (Study 1) to 4% (Study 2) misunderstand the game. They argue that their findings undermine BEW’s conclusion, suggesting that confusion is not an important factor in explaining cooperative behavior.