“The Prisoner’s Dilemma in Everyday Life”
Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/darwins-subterranean-world/202112/the-prisoners-dilemma-in-everyday-life
One of the more well-known topics we’ve discussed in class thus far has been the Prisoner’s Dilemma. While the very specific game that we discussed in class will probably never happen to any of us in real life (at least hopefully), Glenn Geher’s article “The Prisoner’s Dilemma in Everyday Life” introduces the idea that we face situations similar to the prisoner’s dilemma daily. While the situations he describes are not as contrived as the true prisoner’s dilemma, all of the situations he considers everyday examples have a common attribute: the player is faced with two choices, one in which he can act selfishly, and one in which he can act benevolently. Regardless of the strategy he plays, the player hopes that it will create the highest payoff for himself.
Some examples of everyday prisoner’s dilemmas we may encounter include allowing someone to jaywalk in front of our car when we are in a rush, taking the last cookie at the dining hall even though someone might want it more than you do (cause let’s be honest, what is Morrison’s obsession with putting dried cranberries in cookies?!), or being the one to give the RA your netID freshman year when people complained about your room being a little too… rowdy. When predicting how people will act in situations like this, Geher makes the important distinction between one-off versus iterative prisoner’s dilemmas. A one-off prisoner’s dilemma is a situation in which you are unlikely to play with the other player ever again, and therefore the lack of social pressure of not having to face them in the future may influence your action. An iterative prisoner’s dilemma is a situation in which you play a game with the same player many times, even if it isn’t the exact same situation every time.
Geher found that people tend to act much more benevolently when they know they are partaking in an iterative prisoner’s dilemma. This is because, as social creatures, we are much more comfortable interacting with people in which we have established a positive relationship than people with whom we may have a negative relationship. Geher also notes that the idea of a one-off prisoner’s dilemma is a relatively new concept: many years ago, when humans travelled and lived in small tribes, you could be sure that every prisoner’s dilemma you were involved with would be an iterative one. However, with the population boom and the rise of technology, it is likely that the pedestrian you let cross, or the person you took the cookie from, is someone you will likely never have another interaction with.