Prisoner's Dilemma - Research Paper Example

Being accused of a crime is a tough situation to go through. When two people are accused of the same crime the situation could turn into a prisoner’s dilemma. A prisoner’s dilemma is a game in which two prisoners assumed of the same crime have several alternatives. If one prisoner confesses the other would go free. If both prisoners confess they receive the maximum sentence. If the prisoners stay quiet they both receive jail time with a reduce sentence. In order to test the prisoner dilemma theory I played an online game at the website iterated-prisoners-dilemma.net. In the prisoners dilemma game I was stuck in jail with Lucifer.

We were in separated cells. In a prisoner dilemma game there is no way for the prisoner’s to coordinate their actions (Varian). The two options in the game are to cooperate or defect. Cooperate implies to cooperate with each other by denying the crime. Defect means to talk to the police and tell on each other. The first strategy that I choose was to cooperate. I was sure that Lucifer would do the same. Lucifer did not follow my lead and defected. The implication of this strategy was that I was going to jail and Lucifer was going to go free.

I decided to run the simulation once again to implement a different strategy. During the second simulation run I decided to cooperate once again. Lucifer cooperated with me. The game was run 13 times and Lucifer kept cooperating. The final outcome was mutual cooperation the best potential outcome for both parties. Under this scenario we both received jail time but at a reduced sentence. I decided to try the simulation a third time to try a different strategy. The third strategy I used was to be a traitor and implement a pure defect strategy.

Lucifer became the sucker in the game. My won the game with a final score of 78-13. The strategy that I used was risky in real prisoner dilemma game because if both parties defected we both get the maximum jail time. In the game I won which means that I would be freed and Lucifer in jail. The prisoner’s dilemma game has some ethical implications to it. If the strategy used by the prisoners is to cooperate with each other this resolution implies that an innocent person will be serving time in order to protect a guilty party.

It is unfair for the innocent person to commit such an action. The actions of the guilty prisoner are unethical. The defect strategy also has some ethical issues. A person that defects is telling on somebody else. In the real world and in prison a person that tells on someone else is considered a snitch. Being a snitch can hurt the reputation of a person in the outside world, but inside the prison system it places a prisoner at risk from repercussions from the other prisoners. The ethical dilemma associated with defecting involves protecting the well being of the prisoner.

Work Cited Page Iterated-prisoners-dilemma.net. 2011. “Prisoner’s Dilemma” 21 April 2011. < http://www.iterated-prisoners-dilemma.net/> Varian, H. 2003. Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach (6th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Company.