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PRISONERS DILEMMA [1 record]

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Record 1 2001-09-10

English

Subject field(s)
  • Industrial and Economic Psychology
DEF

Theory which compares naked self-interest with cooperation.

OBS

You and a friend have been caught by the police with a stolen car. They rightly suspect both of you of another, more serious offence, but have no proof. You are being held in separate cells and cannot communicate. The police offer you a deal: if you tell them about your friend's other crime you will not be charged with stealing the car. You surmise that they have offered your friend the same deal. What do you do? If you both stay silent, both of you will be charged with the lesser crime - a good result. If both of you talk, both will go to jail for a more serious offence, on evidence of each other's testimony - a bad result. But the dilemma is: if you alone stay silent, you will be punished for both offences while your accomplice walks free.

CONT

The "prisoner's dilemma" has been a favourite story of economists for many years, for it illustrates a much more widespread problem: how individual ambition can lead to collective misery. Traffic jams are prisoner's dilemmas: the more people take individual steps to alleviate congestion (by using public transport) the more they benefit others who do not share their public-spiritedness. Price wars in the airline industry are another example.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Psychologie industrielle et économique

Spanish

Campo(s) temático(s)
  • Psicología económica e industrial
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