Studies show that decision making, especially in situations involving strategic interaction, varies with the level of intelligence, preferences, and personality. However, there is no theoretical framework to organize these differences. This research project will use experimental methods to develop and test a cognitive theory of strategic reasoning and behavior. This research will combine insights from several fields of study to develop a rules-based theory that explains the role of intelligence in strategic decision making. The resulting theory will be tested experimentally to include fMRI data on brain functioning during strategic decision making. Understanding how intelligence affects strategic and thus, social behavior is essential input to policy guidance, especially in education. There is convincing evidence that cognitive skills affect how individuals perform on the job, in schools, but also more broadly how they behave in society, cooperate, decide to follow norms, and look for cooperative behavior. Understanding how much of these outcomes can be modified through appropriate educational policies will not only improve individual performance but will also have a substantial and positive effect on building a cohesive and sustainable society.
This research will provide the foundation for a plausible, descriptive, cognitive model of strategic reasoning and behavior, and test it experimentally. This model is an essential first step to understanding how Intelligence affects behavior of individuals in social interactions, particularly in repeated interactions. The research will combine theory (derived from multiple disciplines such as game theory, cognitive psychology, complexity theory and neural networks) and experimental methods, using both behavioral and functional imaging tools. From academic research point of view, the predictions of this research will constitute an innovation compared to existing literature in Game Theory, even with respect to more descriptively accurate models of reasoning such as automata theories. The predictions will also be important innovations with respect to specialized research in Cognitive Psychology on rules, for example, because the rules currently studied are produced by the subject, rather than assigned by the experimenter. Understanding how Intelligence affects strategic and thus social behavior will offer guidance to policy, particularly education policy. Understanding how much of the effect can be modified by appropriate education policies will have a substantial and positive effect on building a sustainable, cohesive society.
