Very interesting post. It would be nice to formalize a model with the existing ideas from behavioral game theory (Cognitive Hierarchy Model / level-k thinking / endogenous depth of reasoning), with the added cooperative dimension (caring to minimize the cognitive cost for the other). (As some suggest in the comments ask-culture may be an equilibrium?)
Some references:
Colin F. Camerer, Teck-Hua Ho, Juin-Kuan Chong, A Cognitive Hierarchy Model of Games, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 119, Issue 3, August 2004, Pages 861–898, https://doi.org/10.1162/0033553041502225
Larbi Alaoui, Antonio Penta, Endogenous Depth of Reasoning, The Review of Economic Studies, Volume 83, Issue 4, October 2016, Pages 1297–1333, https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdv052
And of course this is all very related to theory of mind in psychology. On that note I once read in a lecture by Robin Dunbar (Mind the Gap; or Why Humans Are Not Just Great Apes) that for most people the highest level they can reach is 5. The relevant paragraph:
This being so, our main interest at this point is what the natural limits of intentional reasoning might be in humans. We have assayed normal adults in a number of separate studies, and it seems that the limits of function for adults are consistently fifth order (‘I believe that you suppose that I imagine that you want me to believe that …’) (Kinderman et al. 1998; Stiller and Dunbar 2007). Around two-thirds of individuals have their limit at or below fifth-order intentionality, and three-quarters have their limit at or below sixth order. There is considerable individual variation around this (Stiller and Dunbar 2007), and we have shown that the higher levels are lost during the active phase of at least two well-known clinical conditions (bipolar disorder: Kerr et al. 2003; paranoid schizophrenia: Swarbrick 2000). These competences develop over a period of time between age 5 (when children first acquire theory of mind, or second-order intentionality) and the early teens (when they finally acquire fifth-order adult-level competences; Henzi et al. 2007).
Very interesting post. It would be nice to formalize a model with the existing ideas from behavioral game theory (Cognitive Hierarchy Model / level-k thinking / endogenous depth of reasoning), with the added cooperative dimension (caring to minimize the cognitive cost for the other). (As some suggest in the comments ask-culture may be an equilibrium?)
Some references:
Colin F. Camerer, Teck-Hua Ho, Juin-Kuan Chong, A Cognitive Hierarchy Model of Games, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 119, Issue 3, August 2004, Pages 861–898, https://doi.org/10.1162/0033553041502225
Larbi Alaoui, Antonio Penta, Endogenous Depth of Reasoning, The Review of Economic Studies, Volume 83, Issue 4, October 2016, Pages 1297–1333, https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdv052
And of course this is all very related to theory of mind in psychology. On that note I once read in a lecture by Robin Dunbar (Mind the Gap; or Why Humans Are Not Just Great Apes) that for most people the highest level they can reach is 5. The relevant paragraph:
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