A note on empathy in games

In this note we shall discuss a concept that – despite its prominence in both Hume (1739) and Smith (1759), its obvious relevance for social behavior, and its not so infrequent use in colloquial language – has never gained a foothold in economic theory: the concept of empathy. Specifically, we illus...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of economic behavior & organization Vol. 108; pp. 383 - 388
Main Authors Grohn, Jan, Huck, Steffen, Valasek, Justin Mattias
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.12.2014
Elsevier Sequoia S.A
Subjects
Belief & doubt
Belief formation
Economic theory
Empathy
Game theory
Language
Literature
Preferences
Psychology
Social psychology
Studies
Utility functions
Utility theory
Empathy
Belief formation
Preferences
D03
D83
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:In this note we shall discuss a concept that – despite its prominence in both Hume (1739) and Smith (1759), its obvious relevance for social behavior, and its not so infrequent use in colloquial language – has never gained a foothold in economic theory: the concept of empathy. Specifically, we illustrate how some insights from the psychological literature on empathy can be incorporated into a standard utility framework, and demonstrate the potential interaction of beliefs and utility through the channel of empathy.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0167-2681
1879-1751
DOI:10.1016/j.jebo.2014.01.008