Can ordinary symbolic human behavior be analyzed through the lens of game theory the same way that the economic behavior can?? What similarities show up in both economics and culture??

Moshe Hoffman and Erez Yoeli are both research scientists at MIT, lecturers at Harvard, and authors of the book Hidden Games: The Surprising Power of Game Theory to Explain Irrational Human Behavior. In the book, Moshe and Erez use game theory to examine human behavior and provide an insightful way to explain seemingly irrational human behavior, along with some fascinating real-world examples.  

Moshe, Erez, and Greg discuss their book and Greg’s common interest in game theory as a teacher of it. They talk about evolutionary rewards. They touch on symbolic behavior and group identification behavior, as well as how aesthetic taste has a cost, and what that is. Moshe and Erez use game theory to link to motivated reasoning, and Greg goes over the differences between being charitable and feeling charitable with an example from his real life.

Episode Quotes:

The central role of coordination

18:04 [Moshe Hoffman]: I guess what we're trying to highlight, the central role that coordination plays, and many situations involve coordination. So norm enforcement involves coordination. You only want to punish norm violators if you expect others to agree with you that they violated the norm, and maybe they'll punish you if you don't punish it, or they'll reward you for punishing the norm violation.

35:56 [Erez Yoeli]: We'd like for at least people to question whether, when they see something that seems irrational, they have simply failed to understand. The reason it's there is because they're thinking about it the wrong way.

On creating pragmatic impact

40:27 [Erez Yoeli]: In order to really have a pragmatic impact, you have to work a little bit harder. You have to draw the connection for people.

People’s altruistic sentiment has a spillover effect

32:45 [Moshe Hoffman]: People's altruistic sentiments and how much they're willing to give is like a dictator's game. It is a spillover effect. It's really shaped by the outside of the lab environment, that tends to be where norms get enforced and where you can build up a reputation, and in those kinds of settings, what the norm really matters, and how things are framed very much tells you what the norm is.

When charity donations are given for reputation rather than for impact

31:03 [Erez Yoeli]: If you try to force everybody to constantly give in very particular ways that they don't find intuitive, that don't help them build up a reputation that they care about, that don't help them show off certain sets of values that they want to show off, you're just going to cut them out of charity entirely. And it's not clear to me which is better, having them give to ineffective charities or not give to effective charities.

Show Links:Recommended Resources:

• The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
• Emic v Etic
• GiveWell
• Michael A. Schwarz

Guest Profile:Moshe Hoffman

• Profile at Max Planck Institute
• Professional Profile at Harvard University
• Moshe Hoffman on Google Sites
• Moshe Hoffman on Twitter

Erez Yoeli

• Faculty Profile at MIT Sloan School of Management
• Erez Yoeli’s Website
• Erez Yoeli on LinkedIn
• Erez Yoeli on Twitter
• Erez Yoeli on TEDxCambridge

Their Works:

• Moshe Hoffman on Google Scholar
• Hidden Games: The Surprising Power of Game Theory to Explain Irrational Human Behavior