Relational dominant strategy equilibrium as a generalization of dominant strategy equilibrium in terms of a social psychological aspect of decision making

In this paper, incorporating a social psychological aspect of decision making, called attitudes, into analysis of games in normal form, the author proposes a new equilibrium concept, called relational dominant strategy equilibrium (RDSE). The author also analyzes relationships between RDSE and dominant strategy equilibrium (DSE), and shows the following fact: RDSE coincides with DSE under a condition on attitudes of players. The story of “The Gift of the Magi” by Henry is analyzed and given a convincing interpretation using the proposed equilibrium concept.