Cognitive skills and the development of strategic sophistication

David Gill and Eduardo Fe

Purdue University Economics Working Papers from Purdue University, Department of Economics

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate how observable cognitive skills influence the development of strategic sophistication. To answer this question, we study experimentally how psychometric measures of theory-of-mind and cognitive ability (or fluid intelligence')work together with age to determine the strategic ability and level-k behavior of children in a variety of incentivized strategic interactions. We find that better theory-of-mind and cognitive ability predict strategic sophistication in competitive games. Furthermore, age and cognitive ability act in tandem as complements, while age and theory-of-mind operate independently. Older children respond to information about the cognitive ability of their opponent, which provides support for the emergence of a sophisticated strategic theory-of-mind. Finally, theory-of-mind and age strongly predict whether children respond to intentions in a gift-exchange game, while cognitive ability has no influence, suggesting that different psychometric measures of cognitive skill correspond to different cognitive processes in strategic situations that involve the understanding of intentions.

Keywords: Cognitive skills; theory-of-mind; cognitive ability; fluid intelligence; strategic sophistication; age; children; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D91 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 56 pages
Date: 2018-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp, nep-gth, nep-hpe and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Cognitive Skills and the Development of Strategic Sophistication (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pur:prukra:1310

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