12: Game
I just finished watching two real life experiments in Game Theory on ABC's Primetime.
Scrolling: Dining Rooms - Catania City Blues.
In the first experiment, six pairs of people started out at different locations in Manhattan and each pair had to find the other five pairs, whom they knew nothing about. Within three hours, three pairs were able to find each other in the Empire State Building, while the other three pairs collided at Times Square! Unknowingly, the participants applied Game Theory by thinking " Where would the other pairs expect to find us and at what time?"
In the second experiment, five people, who wanted to lose weight but had been unsuccessful in the past, were photographed in skimpy swimsuits. A deal was struck in which each person had to lose at least fifteen pounds in two months, failing which, her/his swimsuit photograph would be shown on network tv and the internet. Four out of five people lost more than fifteen pounds, one was three pounds short! The theory was to use a seemingly real threat to drive people to action.
Both theories are prevalent in our lives. Examples given by Primetime were relationships and war. I think, for bschool applicants, bschoolers and business people, a brush with these theories is quite common.
Even though adcoms harp about letting your true self shine through in the essays, I think applicants use game theory and try to write what they think the adcom wants to read. If they have a weakness, they strategize how to put it in a way that would have the minimum impact on the adcom, all the while sprinkling their strengths on the weakness and on top of that striving to show their strengths in a unique light. The same goes for interviews. If the interviewer is a student, your answer to a question would be different from the answer to the same question asked by an admissions officer - you theorize that the student and officer might have different perspectives and would like to hear different answers. Bschoolers go through the game while networking or applying for jobs.
What are deadlines? They are a threat. What are rolling admissions? Threat again.
Business people would be able to go nowhere without playing the game. If a TV executive doesn't think about what people want to watch, or an investor can't think about what other investors might be thinking, then poof!
Looks like business/management is gradually becoming 100% science. Using game theoretic methods to predict human behavior, one could just put parameters into a computer and get step-by-step moves on how to be a perfect leader or strategist.
My point is: I was concerned about being unable to find other bloggers at the Spice Market gathering in NYC on April 14th because I don't know what they look like. Since six pairs of strangers could find each other in Manhattan, I think I'll manage. Maybe we could play a game and make it unmanageable.
Scrolling: Dining Rooms - Catania City Blues.
In the first experiment, six pairs of people started out at different locations in Manhattan and each pair had to find the other five pairs, whom they knew nothing about. Within three hours, three pairs were able to find each other in the Empire State Building, while the other three pairs collided at Times Square! Unknowingly, the participants applied Game Theory by thinking " Where would the other pairs expect to find us and at what time?"
In the second experiment, five people, who wanted to lose weight but had been unsuccessful in the past, were photographed in skimpy swimsuits. A deal was struck in which each person had to lose at least fifteen pounds in two months, failing which, her/his swimsuit photograph would be shown on network tv and the internet. Four out of five people lost more than fifteen pounds, one was three pounds short! The theory was to use a seemingly real threat to drive people to action.
Both theories are prevalent in our lives. Examples given by Primetime were relationships and war. I think, for bschool applicants, bschoolers and business people, a brush with these theories is quite common.
Even though adcoms harp about letting your true self shine through in the essays, I think applicants use game theory and try to write what they think the adcom wants to read. If they have a weakness, they strategize how to put it in a way that would have the minimum impact on the adcom, all the while sprinkling their strengths on the weakness and on top of that striving to show their strengths in a unique light. The same goes for interviews. If the interviewer is a student, your answer to a question would be different from the answer to the same question asked by an admissions officer - you theorize that the student and officer might have different perspectives and would like to hear different answers. Bschoolers go through the game while networking or applying for jobs.
What are deadlines? They are a threat. What are rolling admissions? Threat again.
Business people would be able to go nowhere without playing the game. If a TV executive doesn't think about what people want to watch, or an investor can't think about what other investors might be thinking, then poof!
Looks like business/management is gradually becoming 100% science. Using game theoretic methods to predict human behavior, one could just put parameters into a computer and get step-by-step moves on how to be a perfect leader or strategist.
My point is: I was concerned about being unable to find other bloggers at the Spice Market gathering in NYC on April 14th because I don't know what they look like. Since six pairs of strangers could find each other in Manhattan, I think I'll manage. Maybe we could play a game and make it unmanageable.
posted by qzoink at 4:47 AM
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