7 - Experiments With Prisoner's Dilemma and Related Games

Abstract

This chapter discusses the experiments with Prisoner's Dilemma and related games. It also discusses the effects of strategic structure on choice behavior and experimental subjects often conform closely to the predictions of informal game theory. In the Prisoner's Dilemma game, however, there is a tendency for subjects to become locked in to the unsatisfactory DD outcome when the game is repeated many times, and in the Maximizing Difference game apparently irrational choices are common, indicating that the explicit payoff structure does not accurately reflect the subject's subjective preferences. The chapter focuses on the effects of payoff variations and monetary incentives. It explains decomposed Prisoner's Dilemma games, the trucking game, and the effects of verbal communication between players on strategic choices. The chapter also presents the experiments on responses to prearranged programmed strategies of the other player, including 100% C, 0% C, tit-for-tat, reformed sinner, and lapsed saint. Competitive people are more inclined than cooperative people to believe that others are similar to themselves.