Why we put pressure on ourselves – Prisoner’s Dilemma (Game Theory)

Tour de France is one of the toughest sports events in the world. It takes very high endurance levels to even finish the race and leave along winning it. There was a sports icon who is known for his seven consecutive Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005, the most in the event’s history and if I say he defeated cancer too !! This icon set new benchmarks in sporting history. No prize for guessing – He was the great Lance Edward Armstrong . 

Unfortunately he was found guilty of doping charges. For much of the second phase (Post Cancer) of his career, American cyclist Lance Armstrong faced constant allegations of doping. Armstrong consistently denied allegations of using performance enhancing drugs until a partial confession during a broadcast interview with Oprah Winfrey in January 2013.

The question is why did he do this? Why does competition push us to a point where we cheat? Why do we put pressure on ourselves? 

The simplest explanation to this lies in the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” from Game Theory, a very interesting concept & equally effective in strategy making. The paradox was developed by mathematicians M. Flood and M. Dresher in 1950.

As per Wikipedia The Prisoner’s Dilemma can be explained as:

Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of communicating with the other. The prosecutors lack sufficient evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge, but they have enough to convict both on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the prosecutors offer each prisoner a bargain. Each prisoner is given the opportunity either to betray the other by testifying that the other committed the crime, or to cooperate with the other by remaining silent. The possible outcomes are:

• If A and B each betray the other, each of them serves two years in prison
• If A betrays B but B remains silent, A will be set free and B will serve three years in prison
• If A remains silent but B betrays A, A will serve three years in prison and B will be set free
• If A and B both remain silent, both of them will serve only one year in prison (on the lesser charge).

Guess what happens – Both will end up betraying each other and end up serving 2 years in prison. This is how we do in real life. To get ahead we fall into the trap of “Prisoner’s Dilemma” . 

Some real life situations that will help us to understand this Paradox.

• In my three decades in sales , I have seen companies announcing slab schemes for dealers. They tend to fall into Prisoner’s Dilemma and start competing with each other and this leads to over trading and over stocking. Result no one gains except the company.
• Woman wearing heels – psychology explains this as Prisoner’s Dilemma – if one wears to look good and tall others have to follow. Result no one gains.
• Employees trying to outperform each other in jobs 
• Athletes trying to win medals in race and consuming performance enhancing drugs.