{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T19:10:15Z","timestamp":1760209815950,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":61,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,31]],"date-time":"2017-03-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1490918400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Games"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Many scholars turn to emotions to understand irrational behavior. We do the opposite: we turn to rationality and game theory to understand people\u2019s emotions. We discuss a striking theory of emotions that began with the game theory of credible threats and promises, then was enriched by evolutionary biology and psychology, and now is being tested in psychological experiments. We review some of these experiments which use economic games to set up strategic situations with real payoffs. The experiments test whether a player\u2019s emotional expressions lend credibility to promises, threats, and claims of danger or hardship. The results offer insights into the hidden strategies behind a warm smile, an angry scowl, a look of terror, and eyes of despair.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/g8020018","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,31]],"date-time":"2017-03-31T10:35:49Z","timestamp":1490956549000},"page":"18","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["The Emotional Moves of a Rational Actor: Smiles, Scowls, and Other Credible Messages"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6921-5398","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lawrence","family":"Reed","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA"}]},{"given":"Peter","family":"DeScioli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Political Science, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Schelling, T.C. 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