An issue that often occurs to me when discussing these questions. I one-box, cooperate in one-shot PD's, and pay the guy who gave me a lift out of the desert. I've no idea what decision theory I'm using when I decide to do these things, but I still know that that I'd do them. I'm pretty sure that's what most other people would do as well.

Does anyone actually know how Human Decision Theory works? I know there are examples of problems where HDT fails miserably and CDT comes out better, but is there a coherent explanation for how HDT manages to get all of these problems right? Has anyone attempted to develop a decision theory which successfully solves these sorts of problems by mimicking the way in which people successfully solve them?