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Logical omniscience at the laboratory

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  • Bayer, Ralph C.
  • Renou, Ludovic

Abstract

This paper investigates the ability of individuals to make complex chains of reasoning, similar to those underlying the logic of iterated deletion of dominated strategies. Controlling for other-regarding preferences and beliefs about the rationality of others, we show, in the laboratory, that the ability of individuals to perform complex chains of iterative reasoning is better than previously thought. We conclude this from comparing our results with those from studies that use the same game without controlling for confounding factors. Subjects were able to perform about two to three iterations of reasoning on average as measured by our version of the Red-Hat Puzzle.

Suggested Citation

  • Bayer, Ralph C. & Renou, Ludovic, 2016. "Logical omniscience at the laboratory," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 41-49.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:64:y:2016:i:c:p:41-49
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2016.06.003
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    Cited by:

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    2. Po-Hsuan Lin, 2022. "Cognitive Hierarchies in Multi-Stage Games of Incomplete Information: Theory and Experiment," Papers 2208.11190, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    3. Timothy Flannery & Cara Sibert, 2022. "Learning from Forced Completion vs. the Option to Opt Out," Review of Behavioral Economics, now publishers, vol. 9(1), pages 65-102, April.
    4. Flannery, Timothy & Roberts, Stephen, 2018. "The use of non-monotonic contracts in a single period game: An experimental investigation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 177-185.
    5. Choo, Lawrence & Zhou, Xiaoyu, 2022. "Can market selection reduce anomalous behaviour in games?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    6. Flannery, Timothy & Sibert, Cara Elisabeth, 2019. "Learning from Forced Completion vs the Option to Opt Out: An Experiment on a Hybrid of the Game of 21 and the Centipede Game," OSF Preprints vfuqw, Center for Open Science.
    7. Wei James Chen & Meng-Jhang Fong & Po-Hsuan Lin, 2023. "Measuring Higher-Order Rationality with Belief Control," Papers 2309.07427, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2024.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Iterative reasoning; Depth of reasoning; Logical omniscience; Rationality; Experiments; Other-regarding preferences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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