| Abstract: |
In psychological games, higher-order beliefs, emotions, and motives - in
addition to actions - affect players’ payoffs. Suppose you are tolerated as
opposed to being genuinely accepted by your peers and “friends”. In
particular, suppose you are invited to a party, movie, dinner, etc not because
your company is desired but because the inviter would feel guilty if she did
not invite you. In all of these cases, it is conceivable that the intention
behind the action will matter and hence will affect your payoffs. I model
intentions in a dynamic psychological game under incomplete information. I
find a complex social interaction in this game. In particular, a player may
stick to a strategy of accepting every invitation with the goal of
discouraging insincere invitations. This may lead one to erroneously infer
that this player is eagerly waiting for an invitation, when indeed his
behavior is driven more by strategic considerations than by an excessive
desire for social acceptance. I discuss how being tolerated but not being
truly accepted can explain the rejection of mutually beneficial trades, the
choice of identity, social exclusion, marital divorce, and its implication for
political correctness and affirmative action. |