Game Theory and Romance
Dating, relationships, and romance. There is already a lot of gambling and guessing that goes into building a romantic relationship. People often do not realize that there is actually a lot of probability that goes into maintaining relationships. In turn, when this probability is analyzed, a relationship can go from happy to strategized. For example, when a relationship is dwindling, there is a probability that you could leave your partner or that your partner could leave you. The third option is that your relationship will improve and you will both maintain it. This is where Game theory comes in as both partners are analyzing each other in the situation in order to maximize their payoffs, or their best outcome in the relationship.
Unlike some of the situations we analyzed in class, game theory strategies in romantic relationships can be skewed by the personalities of the players involved. For example, if a strategy is confrontation, the effect of this strategy depends highly on how each of the players react to confrontation. Much like the prisoners dilemma, a counter-intuitive dominant strategy has come up in the romantic relationship game. First, it is worth discussing the risky strategies. For example, trusting the other partner and exposing vulnerability is a highly risky strategy as the other player could hurt you. However, if both players chose this strategy the relationship will be the strongest. This is similar to the case in the prisoner’s dilemma where both players choose to not confess and receive the least jail time. The two parallel strategies include one player showing vulnerability and the other not and vice versa. In these cases the player showing vulnerability risks being hurt emotionally and losing the most while the other player loses the least. Because of this, the dominant strategy that emerges seems to be not exposing any vulnerability and keeping up a guard by being disagreeable. This strategy is very counter-intuitive because it almost guarantees an unhappy relationship much as the dominant strategy in the prisoner’s dilemma guarantees a lot of jail time for both players.
It seems that analyzing relationships with game theory reinforces the fact that intuitive dominant strategies only exist in a perfect world. Though it is beneficial for both players to strategize in a way that they will not be hurt emotionally by their partner, in an imperfect world this will hurt the relationship more. Perhaps some sort of mixed strategy will be most beneficial in the game of relationships. Until then however, we are left to our gambling and guessing.
Source: http://psychgames.weebly.com/in-relationships.html