ABSTRACT
The mental model theory postulates that reasoners build mental models of the situations described in premises, and that each model represents a possibility. The theory’s main principle — the principle of truth— is that these representations are incomplete, because mental models represent only what is true, and not what is false. The present paper defends an analogous principle of self-interest: when individuals have to think strategically, they tend to represent only their own options and payoffs, not those of their opponents. Four experiments have corroborated this principle.
