Tit for Tat, Game Theory in real life
Cooperation amongst communities shows a frequent biological pattern throughout generations of multiple species. Reciprocal teamwork, respect, and altruism are shown time and time again to drive evolutionary success. The term “tit-for-tat” was a phrase that coined this act of mimicking one’s behavior. A sense of matching another energy; for example, on a basic level, if someone shows you kindness you show them kindness, or if they offer you anger you return with anger. These kinds of actions can be mapped out very similarly to the prisoner’s dilemma. Representing just two outcomes, kindness or anger there can be the same types of nash equilibriums that we learned about in class. While this does not hold true in all cases, it does in many.
A clear example of this can be seen in your very own friend group. Having close friends that, for the most part, match your behavior and responses to instances is what deepens relationships and trust over time. If you help someone now, there is a sense of trust that down the line (or immediately) they would help you in a similar way.
In one study, a waitress gave her diners a piece of chocolate and a choice of candy from a basket as she handed out the checks. In the trials of the experiment where she gave the diners candy with their check, her tips were 21% greater than the control group where she did not provide candy.
This circles back to game theory that we learned in class; there are two players looking for the optimal solution. In life, we are presented with games like these all the time regardless of whether or not we view them as games. Even how we tip or waiter, there are outcomes that give us equally positive results. If you believe your waiter did a good job you leave a good tip; (or vice versa) you can both be winners or losers.
Main resource: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-social-trust/201409/the-power-tit-tat
Background Infomation: https://darwin.uky.edu/~sargent/pubs/Tit%20For%20Tat.pdf