3. Prisoners' Dilemmas and How to Resolve Them Flashcards
What is a dominant strategy?
A player’s best strategy regardless of other players’ strategies
What is the dominant strategy rule?
If you have a dominant strategy, use it
What are Axelrod’s four tit-for-tat principles?
Clarity, niceness, provocability, forgiveness
What causes tit-for-tat to break down?
Mistakes and misunderstandings
Why might the prisoners’ dilemma be played irrationally?
Mutual cooperation can be better for everyone if other players are also acting irrationally
What are the principles of punishment?
Detection of cheating, nature of punishment, clarity, certainty, repetition, size
What should be true of the size of a punishment?
It should be as low as possible for successful deterrence
What is quasi-magical thinking?
Thinking that your actions can influence others’ in simultaneous games
Why might quasi-magical thinking be beneficial?
It may lead people to avoid worse outcomes in prisoners’ dilemmas
What are the rules for cooperation?
Clear identity of players, clear rules regarding permissible and forbidden actions, penalties understood by all players, a good system to detect cheating, and information about the system made available to players during design
