Empathy for the sake of Empathy: Examining the One-Shot Prisoner's Dilemma Game
Date
2017-06-13
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Abstract
The prisoner’s dilemma is a widely studied game within game theory.
It focuses on how we can elicit cooperation when there is a clear incentive to
defect. While this concept has been applied to a variety of situations, the
studies within game theory, and specifically about the prisoner’s dilemma,
lack research on true altruists (i.e., individuals who cooperate because they are
good people and not because there is an incentive to do so). The focus of this
paper is the distinction between empathetic people and narcissistic people and
presents a model that shows how true altruists can remain in society despite
narcissists constantly taking advantage of them. The model considers a oneshot
Bayesian prisoner’s dilemma game. The one-shot nature of the game is
used to simulate a lack of reciprocity and, therefore, represents individuals
that cooperate because of who they are as opposed to other incentives. The
Bayesian model allows for the distinction between empathetic and narcissistic
individuals. The results from this model suggest that empathetic individuals
can remain in society as long as there are enough empathetic individuals (µ)
and enough of the “warm feeling” (ε) that these individuals receive from
being altruistic and cooperating. Further work on this model can include
endogenizing both ε and µ as well as studying the relationship within actual
populations.
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Game Theory