Strategy For The Classic Prisoners' Dilemma
The normal game is shown below:
| Prisoner B stays silent (cooperates) | Prisoner B betrays (defects) | |
|---|---|---|
| Prisoner A stays silent (cooperates) | Each serves 1 month | Prisoner A: 12 months Prisoner B: goes free |
| Prisoner A betrays (defects) | Prisoner A: goes free Prisoner B: 12 months |
Each serves 3 months |
Here, regardless of what the other decides, each prisoner gets a higher pay-off by betraying the other. For example, Prisoner A can (according to the payoffs above) state that no matter what prisoner B chooses, prisoner A is better off 'ratting him out' (defecting) than staying silent (cooperating). As a result, based on the payoffs above, prisoner A should logically betray him. The game is symmetric, so Prisoner B should act the same way. Since both rationally decide to defect, each receives a lower reward than if both were to stay quiet. Traditional game theory results in both players being worse off than if each chose to lessen the sentence of his accomplice at the cost of spending more time in jail himself.
Read more about this topic: Prisoner's Dilemma
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