Game Theory in Awkward Situations

35 questions · by Quizbun

Thirty-five questions on strategic behavior in everyday human situations — splitting the bill, replying late, group projects, salary talks, and office politics — using them to teach the real machinery of game theory.

Covers the prisoner's dilemma, Nash equilibrium, coordination games and focal points, the games of chicken and stag hunt, signaling versus cheap talk, credible commitment, repeated games and the shadow of the future, and the free-rider problem.

The recurring lesson is that a 'rational' choice depends entirely on what you expect everyone else to do. Each question pairs a tempting wrong answer with an explanation that teaches the underlying mechanism, and every Question includes References to Wikipedia for verification and further reading.

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Questions

Not answered. What is a Nash equilibrium, in plain terms?
Not answered. Fill in the term: a situation where no player can gain by unilaterally changing strategy is called a ___ equilibrium.
Not answered. Two coworkers could each either pitch in on a shared task or quietly slack. Both slacking leaves them worse off than both helping — yet each is individually tempted to slack whatever the other does. What classic game is this?
Not answered. In a one-shot prisoner's dilemma, why do both rational players end up defecting?
Not answered. Fill in the term: a strategy that gives you a better payoff than any alternative regardless of what your opponents do is called a ___ strategy.
Not answered. Which statements correctly describe a standard one-shot prisoner's dilemma?
Not answered. Two friends want to meet and like both cafés in town equally — they just need to end up at the same one — but their phones are dead, so they can't agree in advance. What kind of game is this?
Not answered. Fill in the term: when players gain only by matching each other's choice (like driving on the same side of the road), the situation is a problem of ___.
Not answered. Asked to meet a stranger in New York City on a given day with no way to communicate, most people independently answer 'noon at Grand Central'. What is such a naturally obvious choice called?
Not answered. Fill in the term: Schelling's name for the option that players gravitate to by default when they can't communicate is a ___ point.
Not answered. A couple want to spend the evening together, but one prefers a concert and the other a film. Being apart is the worst outcome for both, yet each would rather the shared plan be their pick. Which game is this?
Not answered. Two flatmates can either both commit to a big deep-clean that needs both of them to pay off (the better result), or each just tidy their own corner for a small but guaranteed result. Joint cleaning is best but fails if one bails. Which game models this?
Not answered. Two drivers speed toward each other; whoever swerves is the 'loser', but if neither swerves they crash. What is this game called?
Not answered. In a game of chicken, what is the surprisingly effective way to make your threat 'I will never swerve' actually work?
Not answered. In game theory and economics, what is a signal?
Not answered. Fill in the term: economists use this one word for a costly, hard-to-fake action that reveals hidden quality (like a degree revealing ability).
Not answered. Which of these are credible signals — costly and hard to fake — rather than cheap talk?
Not answered. Costless, non-binding statements that anyone could make and that carry no real commitment — like 'we should hang out sometime' — are known in game theory as what?
Not answered. A negotiator deliberately strips away their own option to back down — like a general burning the bridges behind his own army so retreat is impossible. What is this tactic called?
Not answered. A colleague says, 'If you take that client, I'll resign on the spot' — but everyone knows resigning would hurt them far more than you, so they'd never actually do it. In game theory, this is a...
Not answered. Which of the following make a promise or threat genuinely credible?
Not answered. Why can repeated interaction make cooperation easier than a one-off encounter, even when each round's payoffs are unchanged?
Not answered. In Robert Axelrod's famous computer tournaments for the repeated prisoner's dilemma, which simple strategy — cooperate first, then copy whatever the opponent did last — won?
Not answered. Axelrod identified the traits that made tit-for-tat so successful. Which of these are among them?
Not answered. One repeated-game strategy cooperates until the opponent defects even once, then defects forever after. What is this unforgiving strategy called?
Not answered. Game theory's folk theorem says cooperation can be sustained as an equilibrium in a repeated game under which condition?
Not answered. You and a coworker have cooperated for months, but it's now provably your last day working together, and you both know it. Standard theory predicts cooperation collapses. Why?
Not answered. In a group project where everyone shares the same grade, a few members coast while others carry the work. What is this classic problem called?
Not answered. Fill in the term (two words): someone who enjoys a shared benefit without contributing their share is a ___.
Not answered. Which of these everyday situations involve a free-rider (or public-goods) problem?
Not answered. A shared resource — an office fridge, a fishery, a communal kitchen — gets overused and degraded because each person grabs their own benefit while the cost is spread across everyone. What is this called?
Not answered. Two people both want the other to text first after an argument, so each waits — and whoever holds out longer 'wins', but both pay in anxiety and lost time as the silence drags on. Which model best fits this waiting game?
Not answered. An auctioneer sells a $20 bill to the highest bidder — but the second-highest bidder also has to pay their last bid and gets nothing. Bidders often end up paying well over $20. What trap does this illustrate?
Not answered. In a salary negotiation, treating it as 'every extra dollar you get is a dollar I lose' assumes the situation is which kind of game?
Not answered. A rearrangement that makes at least one person better off while making no one worse off is called a...