Behavioral and Brain Sciences


Short Communication

Beliefs, intentions, and evolution: Old versus new psychological game theory


Jeffrey P. Carpenter a1 and Peter Hans Matthews a1

a1 Economics Department, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753 jpc@middlebury.edu peter.h.matthews@middlebury.edu community.middlebury.edu/~jcarpent/ community.middlebury.edu/~pmatthew/

Abstract

We compare Colman's proposed “psychological game theory” with the existing literature on psychological games (Geanakoplos et al. 1989), in which beliefs and intentions assume a prominent role. We also discuss experimental evidence on intentions, with a particular emphasis on reciprocal behavior, as well as recent efforts to show that such behavior is consistent with social evolution.