prisoner’s dilemma

prisoner’s dilemma
A branch of *game theory that systematically analyzes strategies for the optimal selection of alternative courses of action in competitive conditions. The prisoner’s dilemma focuses on the complexities of making competitive choices. In a simplified version of the game, two criminal accomplices are held in separate prison cells, without means of communicating between one another. They face charges of either homicide or theft, according to the following options: (i) If both prisoners confess to homicide, then both will be sentenced for homicide, but with reduced prison sentences; (ii) if neither prisoner confesses to homicide, then both prisoners will be sentenced for the lesser charge of theft; or (iii) if one prisoner confesses to homicide, then he or she will be freed and the accomplice alone will be sentenced for homicide. It is clearly against the interests of the prisoners for both of them to confess, but this is a likely outcome arising from suspicion of the other’s motives. Prisoner’s theory is often applied to the decisions facing individuals in economic and social contexts.

Auditor's dictionary. 2014.

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