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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Behavioral game theory | 2/6 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_game_theory | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T15:10:04.395995+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Comparison to traditional game theory == There are various distinctions between traditional game theory and behavioral game theory. Traditional game theory uses theoretical and mathematical models to determine the most beneficial choice of all players in a game. Game theory uses rational choice theory to predict people's decisions in conditions of uncertainty. It understands strategic behavior to be influenced by utility-maximising preferences, as well as player's assumed knowledge of their opponents and material constraints. It also allows for players to predict their opponents' strategies. Also consumers' decisions are affected by psychological issues, and inattentional blindness is important in influencing the outcome of decisions. This is due to the fact that when consumers' attention is focused on one thing, they ignore other choices. Inattentional blindness believes that human attention and cognition are limited, which explains why consumers will make choices based on their personal preferences. Traditional game theory is a primarily normative theory as it seeks to pinpoint the decision that rational players should choose, but does not attempt to explain why that decision was made. Rationality is a primary assumption of game theory, so there are not explanations for different forms of rational decisions or irrational decisions. In contrast to traditional game theory, behavioral game theory uses empirical models to explain how social preferences, such as ideals of fairness, efficiency or equity, influence human decisions and strategic reasoning. Behavioral game theory attempts to explain factors that influence real-world decisions. These factors are not explored in the area of traditional game theory, but can be postulated and observed using empirical data. Findings from behavioral game theory will tend to have higher external validity and can be better applied to real world decision-making behavior. Behavioral game theory is a primarily positive theory rather than a normative theory. A positive theory seeks to describe phenomena rather than prescribe a correct action. Positive theories must be testable and can be proven true or false. A normative theory is subjective and based on opinions. Because of this, normative theories cannot be proven true or false. Behavioral game theory attempts to explain decision making using experimental data. The theory allows for rational and irrational decisions because both are examined using real-life experiments in the form of simple games. Simple games are often used in behavioral game theory research as a way of analyzing unexplored phenomena, such as social preferences and social utility, that are not explored in traditional game theory.