Dumbing down rational players: Learning and teaching in an experimental game

This paper uses experimental data to examine the existence of a teaching strategy among boundedly rational players. If players realize that their own actions modify their opponents' beliefs and actions, they might play certain actions to this specific end and forego immedi- ate payoffs if the expected payoff gain from a teaching strategy is high enough. Our results support the existence of a teaching strategy in several ways. After exhibiting some regular- ities consistent with teaching, we examine more precisely the existence of such a strategy. First we show that players update their beliefs in order to take account of the reaction of their opponents to their own action. Second, we examine whether players actually use a teaching strategy by playing an action that induces a poor immediate payoff but is likely to modify the opponent's behavior so that a preferable outcome might emerge in the future. We find strong evidence of such a strategy in the data and confirm this finding within a logistic model that suggests that the future expected payoff that could arise from a teach- ing strategy has indeed a significant impact on choice probabilities. Finally, we investigate the effective impact of a teaching strategy on achieved outcomes and find that more tena- cious teachers can successfully use such a strategy in order to reach their favorite outcome at the expense of their opponents.Game theory; Teaching; Beliefs; Experiment

Dumbing down rational players : learning and teaching in an experimental game

This paper uses experimental data to examine the existence of a teaching strategy among bounded rational players. If players realize that their own actions modify their opponent's beliefs and actions, they might play certain actions to this specific end ; and forego immediate payoffs if the expected payoffs if the expected payoff gain from a teaching strategy is high enough. Our results support the existence of a teaching strategy in several ways : First they show that players update their beliefs in order to take account of the reaction of their opponents to their own action. Second, we examine if players actually use a teaching strategy by playing an action that induces a poor immediate payoff but is likely to modify the opponent's behavior so that a preferable outcome might emerge in the future. We find strong evidence of such a strategy in the data and confirm this finding within a logistic model which suggests that the future expected payoff that could arise from a teaching strategy has indeed a significant impact on choice probabilities. Finally, we investigate the effective impact of a teaching strategy on achieved outcomes and find that efficient teachers can successfully use teaching in order to reach their favorite outcome at the expense of their opponents.Game theory, teaching, beliefs, experiment.

Strategic interactions and belief formation: An experiment

Traditional models of belief formation in repeated games assume adaptive players who do not take strategic interactions into account. We find that these approaches are limited in the sense that people think more strategically and realize that, in contrast with the classical view, their own actions are likely to influence their opponents' behaviour.behaviour ; games

Dumbing down rational players: learning and teaching in an experimental game

"This paper uses experimental data to examine the existence of a teaching strategy among boundedly rational players. If players realize that their own actions modify their opponents’ beliefs and actions, they might play certain actions to this specific end and forego immediate payoffs if the expected payoff gain from a teaching strategy is high enough. Our results support the existence of a teaching strategy in several ways. After exhibiting some regularities consistent with teaching, we examine more precisely the existence of such a strategy. First we show that players update their beliefs in order to take account of the reaction of their opponents to their own action. Second, we examine whether players actually use a teaching strategy by playing an action that induces a poor immediate payoff but is likely to modify the opponent's behavior so that a preferable outcome might emerge in the future. We find strong evidence of such a strategy in the data and confirm this finding within a logistic model that suggests that the future expected payoff that could arise from a teaching strategy has indeed a significant impact on choice probabilities. Finally, we investigate the effective impact of a teaching strategy on achieved outcomes and find that more tenacious teachers can successfully use such a strategy in order to reach their favorite outcome at the expense of their opponents." [author's abstract

Dumbing down rational players : learning and teaching in an experimental game

URL des Documents de travail :http://ces.univ-paris1.fr/cesdp/CESFramDP2007.htmDocuments de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 2007.17 - ISSN : 1955-611XThis paper uses experimental data to examine the existence of a teaching strategy among bounded rational players. If players realize that their own actions modify their opponent's beliefs and actions, they might play certain actions to this specific end ; and forego immediate payoffs if the expected payoffs if the expected payoff gain from a teaching strategy is high enough. Our results support the existence of a teaching strategy in several ways : First they show that players update their beliefs in order to take account of the reaction of their opponents to their own action. Second, we examine if players actually use a teaching strategy by playing an action that induces a poor immediate payoff but is likely to modify the opponent's behavior so that a preferable outcome might emerge in the future. We find strong evidence of such a strategy in the data and confirm this finding within a logistic model which suggests that the future expected payoff that could arise from a teaching strategy has indeed a significant impact on choice probabilities. Finally, we investigate the effective impact of a teaching strategy on achieved outcomes and find that efficient teachers can successfully use teaching in order to reach their favorite outcome at the expense of their opponents.Ce papier utilise des données expérimentales pour analyser l'existence d'une stratégie de teaching de la part de joueurs à rationalité limitée. Si les joueurs réalisent que leurs propres actions modifient les croyances et les actions de leurs opposants, ils peuvent être amenés à choisir certaines actions dans le but de modifier le comportement de leurs opposants dans le futur quand bien même ces actions ne maximiseraient pas leurs paiements immédiats. Nos résultats supportent l'existence d'une stratégie de teaching de plusieurs manières : tout d'abord, ils montrent que les joueurs actualisent leurs croyances afin de tenir compte de la réaction de leurs opposants à leurs propres actions. Deuxièmement, nous examinons si les joueurs utilisent effectivement une stratégie de teaching en choisissant des actions associées à des paiements immédiats relativement faibles mais susceptibles de modifier le comportement futur de leurs opposants. Nous trouvons que ce type de stratégie est cohérent avec nos données et nous confirmons ce résultat à l'aide d'un modèle logistique qui indique que le gain futur attendu associé à une stratégie de teaching a en effet un impact significatif sur les probabilités de choix des joueurs. Enfin, nous étudions les conséquences de l'utilisation d'une stratégie de teaching sur les issues atteintes dans le jeu et nous trouvons que les teachers efficaces peuvent avec succès utiliser une stratégie de teaching afin d'atteindre l'issue qui leurs procure le gain le plus élevé aux dépens de leurs opposants

Beliefs and (In)Stability in Normal-Form Games

In this paper, we use experimental data to study players' stability in normal-form games where subjects have to report beliefs and to choose actions. Subjects saw each of 12 games four times in a regular or isomorphic form spread over two days without feedback. We document a high degree of stability within the same (strategically equivalent) game, although time and changes in the presentation of the game do lead to less stability. To look at stability across different games, we adopt the level-k theory, and show that stability of both beliefs and actions is significantly lower. Finally, we estimate a structural model in which players either apply a consistent level of reasoning across strategically different games, or reasoning levels change from game to game. Our results show that approximately 30% of subjects apply a consistent level of reasoning across the 12 games, but that they assign a low level of sophistication to their opponent. The remaining 70% apply different levels of reasoning to different games

Beliefs and (In)Stability in Normal-Form Games

In this paper, we use experimental data to study players' stability in normal-form games where subjects have to report beliefs and to choose actions. Subjects saw each of 12 games four times in a regular or isomorphic form spread over two days without feedback. We document a high degree of stability within the same (strategically equivalent) game, although time and changes in the presentation of the game do lead to less stability. To look at stability across different games, we adopt the level-k theory, and show that stability of both beliefs and actions is significantly lower. Finally, we estimate a structural model in which players either apply a consistent level of reasoning across strategically different games, or reasoning levels change from game to game. Our results show that approximately 30% of subjects apply a consistent level of reasoning across the 12 games, but that they assign a low level of sophistication to their opponent. The remaining 70% apply different levels of reasoning to different games

Dumbing down rational players: Learning and teaching in an experimental game

International audienceThis paper uses experimental data to examine the existence of a teaching strategy among boundedly rational players. If players realize that their own actions modify their opponents' beliefs and actions, they might play certain actions to this specific end and forego immedi- ate payoffs if the expected payoff gain from a teaching strategy is high enough. Our results support the existence of a teaching strategy in several ways. After exhibiting some regular- ities consistent with teaching, we examine more precisely the existence of such a strategy. First we show that players update their beliefs in order to take account of the reaction of their opponents to their own action. Second, we examine whether players actually use a teaching strategy by playing an action that induces a poor immediate payoff but is likely to modify the opponent's behavior so that a preferable outcome might emerge in the future. We find strong evidence of such a strategy in the data and confirm this finding within a logistic model that suggests that the future expected payoff that could arise from a teach- ing strategy has indeed a significant impact on choice probabilities. Finally, we investigate the effective impact of a teaching strategy on achieved outcomes and find that more tena- cious teachers can successfully use such a strategy in order to reach their favorite outcome at the expense of their opponents