Behavioral Game Theory, Experimental Economics

We analyze subjects' eye movements while they make decisions in a series of one-shot games. The majority of them perform a partial and selective analysis of the payoff matrix, often ignoring the payoffs of the opponent and/or paying attention only to specific cells. Our results suggest that subjects apply boundedly rational decision heuristics that involve best responding to a simplification of the decision problem, obtained either by ignoring the other players' motivations or by considering them only for a subset of outcomes.

It is known that people do not merely consider their interests but also have been thinking about other people with empathy in making decisions since the very first day of their existence. This type of positive social behavior is considered as altruism, empathy and love toward others. Altruistic behaviors, exhibited without expecting a reward or something in return, prioritize the benefit of the others. Although mainstream economics mentions individuals maximizing their own interests, any behavior that will increase the welfare of the other regardless of interest is essentially an economic action. The aim of the study is to investigate the behaviors of Ottoman waqf founders in favor of others or non-selfish behaviors in terms of altruistic features based on behavioral economics games and concepts. After all, it was determined that empathy-induced altruistic behavior that emerged in the ultimatum, dictator, trust and public good games, were the same as the waqf founders’ altruistic behaviors.

Öz: İnsanların var oldukları ilk günden beri aldıkları kararlarda sadece kendi faydalarını gözetmedikleri empati kurarak diğer insanları da düşündükleri bilinmektedir. Bu tarz olumlu sosyal davranışlar alturizm, empati ve başkalarını sevmek olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Alturizm olarak da kavramsallaştırılan ödül veya karşılık beklemeden sergilenen ve kişinin bir bedel ödeyebileceği alturistik davranış, diğerinin faydasını öncelemektedir. Ana akım iktisat bireylerin kendi çıkarlarını maksimize etmesinden bahsetmesine rağmen, çıkar gözetmeden diğerinin refahını arttıracak her türlü davranış da özünde iktisadi bir eylemdir. Çalışmanın amacı Osmanlı vakıf kurucularının başkalarının çıkarını gözeten veya bencil olmayan davranışlarını davranışsal iktisat oyunları ve kavramlarından yola çıkarak alturistik özellikler açısından araştırmaktır. Sonuç olarak, ültimatom, diktatör, güven ve kamu malı oyunlarında ortaya çıkan empatiye bağlı alturistik davranışın vakıf kurucularının alturistik davranışlarıyla aynı olduğu belirlenmiştir.

We show that a one-off incentive to bias advice has a persistent effect on advisers' own actions and their future recommendations. In an experiment, advisers obtained information about a set of three differently risky investment options to advise less informed clients. The riskiest option was designed such that it is only preferred by risk-seeking individuals. When advisers are offered a bonus for recommending this option, half of them recommend it. In contrast, in a control group without the bonus only four percent recommend it. After the bonus was removed, its effect remained: In a second recommendation for the same options but without a bonus, those advisers who had previously faced it are almost six times more likely to recommend the riskiest option compared to the control group. A similar increase is found when advisers make the same choice for themselves. To explain our results we provide a theory based on advisers trying to uphold a positive self-image of being incorruptible. Maintaining a positive self-image then forces them to be consistent in the advice they give, even if it is biased.

To investigate the influence of the sense of psychological power on decision making under risk, we conducted an experiment with 60 participants and found evidence which suggests that a heightened sense of power results in excessive risk-taking. We primed the experimental group with a high-power mindset and the control group with a neutral mindset and asked participants to answer a series of hypothetical questions on expected value. The results of a chi-square test suggest that participants who were primed with a heightened sense of power focus on high but unlikely rewards. When the potential reward was greater than the loss, power-primed people were swayed towards the rewards despite the unfavorable probabilities. We propose that there is a link between a heightened sense of power and suboptimal economic decision making, and model this in the Prospect Theory framework.

P versus NP ( Clay's Millennium Prize Problem) is a major unsolved problem of computer science and mathematics. Ethnographic experiment ( nonclassical quantum - like game) was used in order to establish statistically  valid confirmation on an existence of counterexample for P v NP problem in the form of new complexity class M. Thus, phenomenon of existence of absolute winners in nonclassical game can provide alternative solution when P is not NP, but nevertheless, there must exist M = NP as well as P = M! Result was published in 2009 in agreement with Los Alamos scientific standard at :www. arXiv.org > cs > 0904.3074.