Why do we end up in a dirty kitchen?

AGATA KOMENDANT-BROWDOWSKA: So, we end up in a dirty kitchen. Do Ben and Anna, as a couple, obtain the best outcome when they both follow their individual preferences? Apparently not, because they end up with a dirty kitchen. And there was another result that was better for each of them within their reach. It was when they both cleaned.

If they had a good talk as a couple, they might have decided to clean up together, and each of them would have obtained a higher outcome. Namely, three points each. So, with only two points each they end up in a worse situation. Is there something wrong with them? No. They behave reasonably. From their individual point of view, there is no reason to clean. When the other one does, they are tempted to cheat. When the other one doesn’t, they don’t want to be a sucker. So, it’s not them who are wrong, it’s the structure of the situation that is paradoxical. They are led, by the situation, by the motivational structure they are in, to a trap.

And it’s difficult to escape from that. Sometimes when people aim at getting what is best for them it just doesn’t work. Cleaning a kitchen may seem a rather trivial issue, however many problems dealing with the management of shared resources look like this kitchen problem. They often deal with a conflict between individual interests and shared outcomes. Sometimes people end up in a bad situation, and sometimes they succeed in finding solutions for collaborating and share better outcomes. In the next step, we’ll explore it in more detail.