Bias-Adjusted LLM Agents for Human-Like Decision-Making via Behavioral Economics

Abstract: LLMs are increasingly used to simulate human decision-making, but their intrinsic biases often diverge from real human behavior--limiting their ability to reflect population-level diversity. We address this challenge with a persona-based approach that leverages individual-level behavioral data from behavioral economics to adjust model biases. Applying this method to the ultimatum game--a standard but difficult benchmark for LLMs--we observe improved alignment between simulated and empirical behavior, particularly on the responder side. While further refinement of trait representations is needed, our results demonstrate the promise of persona-conditioned LLMs for simulating human-like decision patterns at scale.