Love and Game Theory
From business to traffic, game theory can be applied to anything. This holds true even for love. Game theory can even be used to find analyze how relationships are formed. A mathematical approach to love argues that the best partner can be found by go through the first n/e potential partners (where n is the number of potential candidates) and to chose the one who’s more suitable than all the ones previously seen. The probability of finding the ideal partner is 37% with this approach. Obviously this approach is not perfect as it makes assumptions such as that the goal is always to marry and that there are a fixed number of potential partners, which is rarely the case. It also makes the mistake of assuming that the person you see as the ideal partner for you will see you the same way. A more natural approach would be to view your potential partners as people looking for their own ideal partner. This means that most people will not go for a partner that does not see them in the same way. As a result it is important to look at coordinating strategies, introducing game theory.
Love is an example of how taking into account what the other person does is very important in choosing what you do. Imagine a scenario which we have two potential partners, parter A and partner B, they can either confess their love or say they are not interested. If both players confess their love they have the possibility of living happily ever, a very positive outcome for both. If both say they are not interested, their dignity remains (a neutral outcome for both). However, if one player confesses their love and the other doesn’t, the person who did will feel very rejected (a neutral outcome for one player and very negative outcome for other player). In other words, it can be argued that a relationship is an example of social cooperation.
http://www.colyvan.com/papers/mdm.pdf