Love Games: A Game-Theory Approach To Compatibility

Scholarship @ Claremont 2015-01-31T05:40:14Z

In this note, we present a compatibility test with a rigorous mathematical foundation in game theory. The test must be taken separately by both partners, making it difficult for either partner alone to control the outcome. To introduce basic notions of game theory we investigate a scene from the film "A Beautiful Mind" based on John Nash's life and Nobel-prize-winning theorem. We recall this result and reveal the mathematics behind our test. Readers may customize and modify the test for more accurate results or to evaluate interpersonal relationships in other settings, not only romantic. Finally, we apply Dyson's and Press's "zero-determinant payoff strategies'' to this setting and explore the existence of such strategies and the corresponding implications for relationship dynamics.

Game theory; compatibility quiz; equilibrium strategy; Nash equilibrium; Family, Life Course, and Society; Gender and Sexuality; Interpersonal and Small Group Communication; Other Mathematics; Other Psychology; Peace and Conflict Studies; text

Open access content. Open access content
Kerstin Bever and Julie Rowlett
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HDC oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:jhm-1195
info:doi/10.5642/jhummath.201501.05
958070795

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