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Course : Game Theory and Psychology Instructors : Moshe Hoffman, Erez Yoeli TAs :

Course : Game Theory and Psychology Instructors : Moshe Hoffman, Erez Yoeli TAs : Christian Ferko , Maxim Massenkoff. Let’s discuss some puzzles of psychology…. Puzzle 1: Norm against Chemical Weapons. Why were chemical weapons the red line? Why not 100,000 deaths?

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Course : Game Theory and Psychology Instructors : Moshe Hoffman, Erez Yoeli TAs :

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  1. Course: Game Theory and Psychology Instructors: Moshe Hoffman, ErezYoeli TAs: Christian Ferko, Maxim Massenkoff

  2. Let’s discuss some puzzles of psychology…

  3. Puzzle 1: Norm against Chemical Weapons

  4. Why were chemical weapons the red line? Why not 100,000 deaths? Why not wanton murder of civilians?

  5. This norm reared its head many times before…

  6. “These flamethrowers were used to kill Japanese holed into pillboxes, buildings and caves. “ -Wiki entry for Battle of Iwo Jima

  7. Why flame throwers? “A strong military case was made for the use of gas before America’s attack on the island of Iwo Jima; Japanese defenders in caves and tunnels would have been particularly vulnerable. Franklin Roosevelt rejected the idea.” -The Economist, The History of Chemical Weapons

  8. >26,000 American casualties, Iwo Jima, WWII

  9. “Because all the civilians had been evacuated, there were no civilian casualties at Iwo Jima”

  10. Video Clip: Japanese Soldier Burnt Alive by Flame Thrower

  11. More humane than chemical weapon?

  12. Thus, -Chemical weapons would have saved lives! -No civilian casualties either way! -Not obviously “more humane”

  13. In general: • Where do such inefficient norms come from? • What types of norms occur?

  14. Puzzle 2: Apologies

  15. Salala Pakistan, Nov 26 2011:US accidentally killed 24 Pakistani Soldiers

  16.  Pakistan closed supply routes, until we apologized

  17.  ~$1 billion in extra shipping fees

  18. Until July 3 2012 “We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military” -Hilary Clinton

  19. Immediately after… “…the ground supply lines into Afghanistan are opening”

  20. Why wouldn’t US just say sorry? -mere words? -worth a billion? Why would Pakistan care? -wouldn’t US “fake it”?

  21. More generally: • Why do mere words matter? • When do mere words matter? • What about other symbolic gestures (e.g. coronations, handshakes, etc)?

  22. Puzzle 3: Why do we consider transgressions of commission worse than those of omission?

  23. “I won’t kill you…but I don’t have to save you”

  24. Notice: -Batman’s intention is the same -The outcome is the same -But Batman (and presumably the viewer) thinks omission less bad

  25. Why is omission viewed differently from commission? • Is this distinction something we should legally respect or overcome?

  26. More generally: • Where do our moral intuitions come from? • Do they make a good basis for law?

  27. Puzzle 4: Where do “rights“ come from?

  28. Self evident? The creator? “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”

  29. Might?

  30. The “state of nature”?

  31. A “social contract”?

  32. What does this mean?

  33. Where DO rights ACTUALLY come from? • What can cause them to change? • What kind of rights are we likely to observe?

  34. Puzzle 5: Why does love “blind us”?

  35. When we get married, we vow, “for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health.” And sometimes, we commit acts of love that are extremely costly…

  36. End of Last of the Mohicans

  37. Why does love cause us to ignore the costs of the relationship, sometimes to catastrophic results? Why doesn’t it just cause us to consider their interests, while being sensitive to the costs?

  38. In other classes…

  39. Brooks, Alison Wood, Hengchen Dai, and Maurice E. Schweitzer. "I’m Sorry About the Rain! Superfluous Apologies Demonstrate Empathic Concern and Increase Trust." Social Psychological and Personality Science (2013): 1948550613506122.

  40. Super interesting. But does not answer why apologies have this effect…

  41. Acevedo, Bianca P., et al. "Neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love." Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 7.2 (2012): 145-159.

  42. Important to know neural pathways. But doesn’t explain why love works this way…

  43. Spranca, Mark, Elisa Minsk, and Jonathan Baron. "Omission and commission in judgment and choice." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 27.1 (1991): 76-105.

  44. Important to document. And to rule out obvious alternative explanations. But doesn’t explain why…

  45. In this class… We will address these “why’s” …Using game theory

  46. What is game theory?

  47. L R The simplest “game” can be represented by the following “payoff matrix” 8, 4 5, 6 U D 3, 2 0, -3

  48. L R Player 1 chooses between two actions 8, 4 5,6 U D 3, 2 0, -3

  49. L R Player 2 simultaneously chooses between 2 actions 8, 4 5, 6 U D 3, 2 0, -3

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