Formal Models of Dilemmas in Social Decision-Making

Abstract

Social dilemmas occur whenever each individual is better off choosing an anti-social course of action than a pro-social one, yet all individuals would be better off if all were to choose the pro-social course than if all were to choose the anti-social course. Interest in social dilemmas has increased because problems such as overpopulation, pollution, and selfish use of energy appear to be the result of such dilemmas. A simple game has been developed according to the principle that benefit for anti-social behavior accrues directly to the individual whereas loss is spread out among all the players. Such a game results in a true social dilemma -- one which becomes worse the more players there are. The present paper discusses the dilemma.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1974
Accession Number
ADA006188

Entities

People

  • Robyn M. Dawes

Organizations

  • Oregon Research Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Contrast
  • Cooperation
  • Differential Equations
  • Equations
  • Guarantees
  • Identities
  • Jails
  • Judgment
  • Labor Unions
  • Law Enforcement
  • Military Research
  • Prisoners
  • Probability
  • Universities

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.