Effective Choice in the Prisoner's Dilemma

1980/03/01 by Robert Axelrod · 944 citations
Decision Sciences · Mathematics · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Artificial intelligence #Computer science #Dilemma #Economics #Epistemology #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies #Game Theory and Applications #Game theory #Mathematics #Microeconomics #Positive economics #Prisoner's dilemma #Psychology #Social dilemma #Social psychology #Sociology #Superrationality #Tournament #Variety (cybernetics)

paper · doi:10.1177/002200278002400101

published in Journal of Conflict Resolution 24(1), 3-25 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 1980/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

This is a “primer” on how to play the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma game effectively. Existing research approaches offer the participant limited help in understanding how to cope effectively with such interactions. To gain a deeper understanding of how to be effective in such a partially competitive and partially cooperative environment, a computer tournament was conducted for the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma. Decision rules were submitted by entrants who were recruited primarily from experts in game theory from a variety of disciplines: psychology, political science, economics, sociology, and mathematics. The results of the tournament demonstrate that there are subtle reasons for an individualistic pragmatist to cooperate as long as the other side does, to be somewhat for-giving, and to be optimistic about the other side's responsiveness.

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