الفهرس 
Behavioral Literature, Games of Choice ...........31 IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
For decades, people have defiled the rationality of human choices for
social and sentimental considerations. It is the argument of this dissertation that
people are sentimental players and that there are axioms behind humanity’s
continual failure to choose rationally since Adam’s time up to the present. The
study, therefore, is to discuss the sentimental variables that people tolerate to
control their choices instead of depending on rational or strategic ones. To
achieve this purpose, two methodological approaches: game theory and
behavioral economics are to be applied to selected novels (1995 – 2007) by a
number of writers whose fiction can be interpreted from these angles. By
adopting some game theory principles, the study is to refute the assumption of
game theorists who declared the rationality of players.
The rationality of the protagonists is to be questioned by applying game
theorists’ tenets such as prisoner’s dilemma games, cooperative games, non-
cooperative games, stag hunt games, along with John Nash’s equilibrium and
Richard Thaler’s theory of decision-making to: David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas
(2004), Ben Elton’s Blind Faith (2007), José Saramago’s Blindness (1995), and
Elizabeth Moon’s The Speed of Dark (2002).
By selecting these texts and concepts, the study is to wed game theory and
behavioral economics to fiction, such a genre, in which the characters prefer
common choices (axioms) rather than rational ones, hence presenting a literary
view that attempts to offer a better analysis of human choices. The study’s
conclusion is to emphasize the importance of rational literature and the
development it can add to the field of game theory and behavioral economics.
Key Words:
Game theory, behavioral economics, rationality, bounded rationality, choice,
social norms, social axioms, prisoner’s dilemma, contemporary fiction, climate
change, ableism, ignorance