Chapter 6: Modularity and the "Heuristics and Biases" Research Program

Abstract:     
Much of economic theory has been guided by a methodology that, in its more enthusiastic moments, seems to glorify the irrelevance of empirical research on how people actually behave (see, e.g, Selten, 1998). In this light it is not surprising that with one or two important exceptions, economists' knowledge of or interest in experimental methods historically has been limited. In recent years, multidisciplinary participation in experiments using human subjects has begun to change this, and has been associated with an increased willingness to use these methods and consider the implications of what they show. As Selten's comments indicate, these results are now, in the area of strategic interaction, so broad and so consistent in their identification of deficiencies in the predictions of standard models that a number of theorists have found it desirable to rethink what explanatory or predictive claims are actually made for normative theory.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 26

Keywords: Altruism, Game Theory, Behavioral Economics, Evolutionary Theory

JEL Classification: B41, C71, D64

Accepted Paper Series