In the context of the Ultimatum Game, spite and unpredictability are interpreted as irrational. In real life, they can help intimidate competitors
For gamers who love the art of the deal, Chinatown is the perfect choice. In this real estate game properties are distributed to players randomly at the beginning of every turn. The bulk of the game consists of pure negotiation.
And yet, human nature being what it is, this sort of irrational actor does sometimes pop up. I know this to be true because sometimes that irrational actor is me.It was late 2016, and I was playing a five-player game of Chinatown with friends, including an avid gamer by the name of John Chew. The game was unfolding in the typical Chinatown way, and the lay of the land clearly suggested that John and I would soon be making a deal.
In purely microeconomic terms, John’s argument was flawless. And I quite clearly remember thinking that accepting this diminished deal was the rational thing to do. Yet as I began handing over the property token, my muscles seized. Something in me rebelled against the situation. It grated on me that John would be benefiting from behaviour that I regarded as opportunistic and cynical. So I balked.
The Ultimatum Game involves two strangers, one of whom is designated as “the proposer,” and the other as “the responder.” The researcher conducting the Ultimatum Game will offer the proposer a gift that must be shared with the responder. The proposer then decides how to split up the gift, and informs the responder of the proposed division of spoils. If the responder accepts the split, then both participants receive their assigned portion.
Why are humans so eager to punish anonymous individuals for their perceived greed? Even if the proposer in an Ultimatum Game truly does learn a life lesson about equity and social justice from a responder’s decision to punish him for a lowball offer, how does that benefit the responder? The answer would seem to be rooted in evolutionary psychology.
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