Introduction
In the lecture last week when the topic of game theory and its application in a problem such as the prisoners’ dilemma was introduced it brought up a blast from the past of my CSCB07 midterm where we had a “CSCB07 Dilemma”.
Our instructor created a bonus where there were 3 options of 7, 10 or 30 bonus points but there was a catch if more than 1/3 of the class selected option 2 or left it blank then there was no bonus. (For those curious, more than 1/3 of the class selected option 2 or left it blank resulting in no bonus)
The reason I tell this mini-story is that when looking for game theory articles there was one that discussed a new book recently published that was titled Hidden Games: The Surprising Power of Game Theory to Explain Irrational Human Behavior that looked at how game theory can help explain ostensibly irrational human behaviour. It explored how the authors indicated that game theory can provide motivation or reasoning about why humans do certain actions.
Analysis
The article published in the Harvard Gazette begins by discussing how in the novel the authors emphasize the idea that game theory is everywhere in particular in our daily lives without us ever subconsciously knowingly applying it. It can be seen in aspects of human behaviours which may differ from the traditional studies that game theory is used namely on actual game strategies. Hoffman, a lecturer at Harvard’s Department of Economics describes that much of human behaviour is “shaped by social pressures, by either the effect you will have on other people by signalling these things or the effect other people will have on you by positively reinforcing those behaviours” (Walsh, 2022). For instance, for those who still watch cable news, there is a hidden game where “You end up becoming a motivated reasoner … the social thing of trying to persuade gets internalized and ends up affecting your own beliefs in a way that it ends up being hidden,” (Walsh, 2022).
Perhaps a more concrete example of how game theory can explain our motivations is recycling. While most will agree that recycling is good for the environment, on a more subconscious hidden level, someone may be choosing to do good for the planet by recycling as it also helps their reputation.
Connecting this article with network science, game theory can help explain why some people perform selfless acts. Yoeli, a research assistant at the Sloan School, backs up the point through field experiments which found that when a selfless act was more public, more people took part in it (Yoeli, 2022). This relates to the idea discussed in class that in game theory you want the best advantage for yourself or the mindset of “how can I make myself look better through my actions”. In one experiment, a public utility company decided to post a sign-up sheet to be part of its new energy efficiency/blackout program instead of sending out individual letters to residents as they did in the past. The result was that more people signed up compared to the previous approach of letters as they got public credit for their good deed which was taking part in reducing energy consumption. The reason for this was because of game theory namely, it is more observable having a name on the sign-up sheet rather than mailed-back responses. This is like a Nash equilibrium where the pair of strategies is the best option for both the utility company and residents as now the residents earn credit for their contribution while the utility company has people signing up for their energy consumption reduction program. This more observable action helps build a personal brand which is critical. If we think back to the first few weeks of lectures, those with stronger reputations build more trust with others which can lead to stronger relationships and greater cooperation leading to this hidden game of doing “good actions”. Yoeli concludes that “What we are saying is that humans evolved a psychology to play these games. They have tastes and beliefs, ideologies, intuitions, that help them do that. Sometimes those games are about reputation, sometimes they are about signalling things, sometimes they are about group identity and persuasion, sometimes they are about other things.” (Yoeli, 2022).
Conclusion
In closing, game theory is more prevalent in our daily lives than one may have thought. It can provide reasoning or motivation for behaviours such as the way athletes and scientists develop and pursue passions to why people enjoy certain pieces of art, eats certain foods, or donate to GoFundMe instead of charities as it can be more observable that someone is doing good.
Works Cited