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ERIC Number: ED130933
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1976
Pages: 11
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Prisoner's Dilemma as a Social Simulation Game.
Glass, John F.
A simulation game of strategy relating to alternate confession choices of two prisoners is described. The game, Prisoner's Dilemma, is designed to help participants learn about trust, cooperation, competition, intergroup dynamics, and their own life role and feelings. Three choices are offered at the beginning of the game to two prisoners, held incommunicado, each charged with the same crime: (1) both prisoners confess and can be convicted, (2) neither prisoner confesses and neither can be convicted, and (3) one prisoner confesses and one does not, allowing the first to go free and the other to receive a more severe punishment. Each choice relates to the central dilemma of whether a rational prisoner should confess, and it is plotted along a two-by-two matrix indicating the outcome. A postgame analysis is recommended. Seven discussion questions concerning individual players' reactions during the game and their feelings about other players are suggested. Problems of assessing what people actually learn in games of this type are recognized. Game instructions, references, and a matrix and tally sheet are included in the paper. (Author/DB)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the annual convention of the Pacific Sociological Association (San Diego, California, March 25-27, 1976)