From Inside Higher Ed. Unfortunately the professor was teaching CS, not Econ. This appears to be history’s first recorded successful implementation of a strategy discussed in every economics class I’ve ever taken, or taught. Read it all, the students used a combination of social media and intimidation to enforce cooperation: they all got A’s without taking the final. 2/12/2013.
The reward for mutual cooperation (100 points guaranteed) was greater than or equal to the temptation for defecting (0-100 points based on performance). So defection is not the dominant strategy, hence this was not a prisoner’s dilemma. (Still impressive on the part of the studnts though.)
Oh Christ. I forgot to check that. Making this the most humiliating post I’ve made since I started this blog. It was Beanish. I’m horrified. And for once, no, I’m not being snarky.
Nobody’s perfect. Most people try to do right most of the time.
Do a cost-benefit analysis on thinking yourself humiliated. What would you say to a friend who had so humiliated himself. How worthwhile would you think you would be if you had not done so? Ask people if they would like a friend any less for doing so. Ask yourself why it is humiliating if someone thought you less than perfect. Are you basing too much on your self-esteem on what others think of you? How will it help you – or hurt you – to think this way?
Humiliation can help us avoid self-righteousness and help us develop empathy.
So its matching pennies instead of PD?