The Victim’s Dilemma
With all reports of sexual assault in Hollywood in the news recently, there has been massive support for the victims and their bravery for coming forward. But, because this is the internet, there are also plenty of people questioning the victims’ decisions to come forward years later. I’ve seen lots of blog posts on here relating it to information cascade, but I’ve decided to examine the “Prison’s Dilemma” as it relates to victims coming forward.
The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a classic example of game theory between two rational decision makers. We can imagine two victims who can choose to either come forward or remain silent. If both victims choose to remain silent, the payoff is that others could be assaulted by their harasser (who will have no punishment). If both victims come forward, the public sees more credibility in the accusations. The “Victim’s Dilemma” parallels the Prisoner’s Dilemma until you get the the last situation, if one victims comes forward while the other does not. If one victim A comes forward while B remains silent, A will likely receive negative media attention, and vice versa. This is the opposite payoff from the classic case where the “reporting” prisoner would get a positive payoff for telling on his accomplice while the other remains silent.
link: http://www.weeklystandard.com/harvey-weinstein-and-the-victims-dilemma/article/2010374
This topic and article was already written by Tyler Grant in the Weekly Standard.
my apologies, I included the wrong link to the story. fixing now.