Extra Credit Experiment and Prisoner’s Dilemna
Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/professor-tests-prisoners-dilemma-on-his-students-2015-7
In the article linked above, a professor at the University of Maryland ran an experiment on his students. He told them to select if they wanted 2 extra credit points or 6 extra credit points on their final exam. However, the catch was that if more than 10% of the class selected that they wanted 6 extra credit points, then no one would get any extra credit points. The professor has been running this experiment for 7 years, but only one class has received an extra two points each.
This experiment is a classic example of the prisoner’s dilemma that we have studied in lecture. The students are the prisoners in our example. All the students are aware of the fact that if more than 10% of them choose 6 extra credit points, they will all end up with no extra credit points. Most students will be motivated to choose 6, thinking that their one small part in the class will not make a big difference on the total percentage of students opting for 6 extra credit points. Thus no one will receive any extra credit.
Now, let’s say for the sake of argument that since this is a college-setting the students of the class are bound to talk to each other before the exam and could reach an agreement that all of them will only opt for 2 extra credit points. However, at least one student is bound to choose 6 instead because that student knows the rest of the students will choose 2, so that student will be able to gain a competitive advantage over their peers. However, knowing that at least one student is bound to choose 6 extra credit points, a majority of the rest of the class will also choose 6 extra credit points in order to not fall behind. Again, leaving us with the same result that no one will get any extra credit points. This example perfectly demonstrates the paradox of the prisoners’ dilemma, namely that people acting in their own self-interest do not create the best outcome.