Game Changer - the game theory podcast
Playing by the rules – a game theoretic view on social norms | with Cristina Bicchieri
Nov 4, 2024
Cristina Bicchieri, the S.J. Patterson Harvie Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, shares her insights on social norms through the lens of game theory. She discusses how these unwritten rules shape behavior and the critical role they play in driving social change. The conversation highlights the impact of social norms on harmful practices like open defecation and child marriage, emphasizing the need for understanding community behaviors. Bicchieri also explores the influence of norms on poverty dynamics, illustrating how they can transform social interactions.
33:06
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Quick takeaways
- Social norms significantly influence individual behavior through game theory, affecting choices in coordination games and mixed motive scenarios like the Prisoner's Dilemma.
- Organizations can effectively drive social change by understanding and altering empirical expectations, leveraging trendsetters to challenge and reshape existing social norms.
Deep dives
Connection Between Social Norms and Game Theory
Social norms play a crucial role in shaping behaviors within various game theory frameworks. For instance, the concept of a convention relies on empirical expectations, where individuals choose to follow certain behaviors like stopping at red traffic lights based on the belief that others will do the same. This forms what is known as coordination games, where the rational choice is to adhere to these conventions due to mutual expectations. However, social norms become more complex in mixed motive scenarios, such as the Prisoner's Dilemma, where the presence of a social norm can shift the game from a single equilibrium to multiple equilibria, enabling cooperation and beneficial outcomes for the community.
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