Behavioral game theory

Home > Economics > Behavioral Economics > Behavioral game theory

The study of how people behave in strategic interactions, where the outcomes depend on the choices of multiple players.

Game theory: The study of strategic decision-making in situations where two or more players have conflicting interests.
Social preferences: How individuals value outcomes that affect not only themselves, but also others.
Decision-making under uncertainty: How people make choices when they do not have complete information about the outcomes of their decisions.
Prospect theory: A model of decision-making that accounts for the framing effect and the tendency for people to overweight small probabilities.
Time preferences: How individuals value outcomes that occur at different points in time.
Cognitive biases: Systematic errors in decision-making that arise from cognitive limitations and heuristics.
Self-control: The ability to delay gratification and resist temptation in order to achieve long-term goals.
Negotiation: The process of reaching an agreement between two parties through strategic interaction.
Trust and cooperation: The willingness of individuals to rely on others and work together to achieve common goals.
Experimental methods: The tools and techniques used to study behavior in controlled laboratory settings.
Ultimatum game: A type of game where one player proposes a division of a resource and the other player can either accept or reject it. If the proposal is rejected, neither player receives anything.
Prisoner's dilemma: A game where two players face a choice between cooperation and defection, and the payoff for each option depends on the choice made by the other player.
Trust game: A game where one player trusts another to make a decision that will benefit both players, but the trusted player can choose to betray the trust and take all the benefits for themselves.
Public goods game: A game where players decide whether to contribute to a public good or not. The payoff for each player depends on the sum of contributions.
Dictator game: A game where one player has complete control over a resource and can choose to divide it however they wish between themselves and the other player.
Beauty contest game: A game where players try to predict which number other players will choose as the closest to 2/3 of the average of all numbers chosen, with the winner being the one with the closest guess. The game is designed to study the concept of strategic thinking and is often used in tests of oligopolistic coordination.
Matching pennies game: A two-player zero-sum game in which each player can choose to place a penny heads up or tails up. The players win or lose money depending on whether their pennies match or not.
The stag hunt game: A game where players choose whether to hunt a stag or a hare. Hunting a stag requires cooperation and yields a higher payoff, while hunting a hare can be done individually and yields a lower payoff. The game is used to study the concept of social coordination.
The Hawk-Dove game: A game where players choose between two strategies: one of cooperation and one of conflict. The game is used to study the evolution of cooperation and aggression.
- "Behavioral game theory seeks to examine how people's strategic decision-making behavior is shaped by social preferences, social utility, and other psychological factors."
- "Behavioral game theory analyzes interactive strategic decisions and behavior using the methods of game theory, experimental economics, and experimental psychology."
- "Experiments include testing deviations from typical simplifications of economic theory such as the independence axiom and neglect of altruism, fairness, and framing effects."
- "Traditional game theory assumes that people's strategic decisions are shaped by rationality, selfishness, and utility maximization."
- "Traditional game theory tends to use basic rational choice theory and utility maximization as the primary principles within economic models."
- "In contrast to traditional game theory, behavioral game theory examines how actual human behavior tends to deviate from standard predictions and models."
- "Rational choice theory is an ideal model that assumes that individuals will actively choose the option with the greatest benefit."
- "The fact is that consumers have different preferences and rational choice theory is not accurate in its assumptions about consumer behavior."
- "Behavioral game theory aims to create new models that incorporate psychological principles."
- "Studies of behavioral game theory demonstrate that choices are not always rational and do not always represent the utility maximizing choice."
- "Behavioral game theory largely utilizes empirical and theoretical research, laboratory and field experiments, and modeling - both theoretical and computational."
- "Recently, methods from machine learning have been applied in work at the intersection of economics, psychology, and computer science to improve both prediction and understanding of behavior in games."
- "Behavioral game theory seeks to examine how people's strategic decision-making behavior is shaped by social preferences, social utility, and other psychological factors."
- "Behavioral game theory analyzes interactive strategic decisions and behavior using the methods of game theory, experimental economics, and experimental psychology."
- "Experiments include testing deviations from typical simplifications of economic theory such as the independence axiom and neglect of altruism, fairness, and framing effects."
- "Traditional game theory tends to use basic rational choice theory and utility maximization as the primary principles within economic models."
- "In contrast to traditional game theory, behavioral game theory examines how actual human behavior tends to deviate from standard predictions and models."
- "Rational choice theory is an ideal model that assumes that individuals will actively choose the option with the greatest benefit."
- "The fact is that consumers have different preferences and rational choice theory is not accurate in its assumptions about consumer behavior."
- "Behavioral game theory aims to create new models that incorporate psychological principles."