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A Notion of Prominence for Games with Natural-Language Labels

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  • Alessandro Sontuoso

    (Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy, Chapman University
    Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Pennsylvania)

  • Sudeep Bhatia

    (Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract

We study games with natural-language labels (i.e., strategic problems where options are denoted by words), for which we propose and test a measurable characterization of prominence. We assume that – ceteris paribus – players find particularly prominent those strategies that are denoted by words more frequently used in their everyday language. To operationalize this assumption, we suggest that the prominence of a strategy-label is correlated with its frequency of occurrence in large text corpora, such as the Google Books corpus (“n-gram†frequency). In testing for the strategic use of word frequency, we consider experimental games with different incentive structures (such as incentives to and not to coordinate), as well as subjects from different cultural/linguistic backgrounds. Our data show that frequently-mentioned labels are more (less) likely to be selected when there are incentives to match (mismatch) others. Furthermore, varying one’s knowledge of the others’ country of residence significantly affects one’s reliance on word frequency. Overall, the data show that individuals play strategies that fulfill our characterization of prominence in a (boundedly) rational manner.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro Sontuoso & Sudeep Bhatia, 2020. "A Notion of Prominence for Games with Natural-Language Labels," Working Papers 20-38, Chapman University, Economic Science Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:chu:wpaper:20-38
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    3. Rojo Arjona, David & Sitzia, Stefania & Zheng, Jiwei, 2022. "Overcoming coordination failure in games with focal points: An experimental investigation," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 505-523.
    4. David Rojo Arjona & Stefania Sitzia & Jiwei Zheng, 2021. "Overcoming coordination failure in games with focal points," Working Papers 335109305, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    focal points; salience; coordination; hide-and-seek; culture; language; level-k;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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