Lauren Young, Assistant Professor, UC Davis
The authors use a coordination game to model citizens who could mobilize against a government regime. The players are uncertain about the regime’s strength, which determines the costs of revolting. Each of two players receives a private, noisy signal about the regime’s strength, and then players simultaneously choose whether to mobilize or abstain. The authors manipulate the emotion of fear by using a video from previous research, then test the effects of fear on citizens’ attempts to coordinate against the regime.