Abstract

An important difference between the traditions of experimentation in economics and psychology is that experimental economics has essentially banned the use of deception in laboratory experimental designs. There is, however, disagreement as to what constitutes “deception.” For example, it is generally considered acceptable to divide a group of participants into “matching groups” without telling them so. In this chapter, I discuss various forms of deception, the pros and cons of using them, and the experimental evidence on their effects. I also discuss the extent to which traditional objections to the use of deception in laboratory experiments carry over to field experiments.