Are the Treasures of Game Theory Ambiguous?

Goeree & Holt (2001) observe that, for some parameter values, Nash equilibrium providesgood predictions for actual behaviour in experiments. For other payoff parameters, however,actual behaviour deviates consistently from that predicted by Nash equilibria. They attributethe robust deviations from Nash equilibrium to actual players’ considering not only marginalgains and losses but also total pay-offs. In this paper, we show that optimistic and pessimisticattitudes towards strategic ambiguity may induce such behaviour.[...]