SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SELFCONTROL AND SOCIAL COOPERATION

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SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SELF-CONTROL
AND SOCIAL COOPERATION

• IMPLICATIONS FOR AN ACCOUNT OF ADDICTION
• BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA 2007

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RULES OF PRISONERS DILEMMA GAME

• 1. IF YOU CHOOSE Y YOU GET 100 TIMES N
• 2. IF YOU CHOOSE X YOU GET 100 TIMES N 300
• 3. N THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS WHO CHOOSE Y

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PRISONERS DILEMMA
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ALCOHOLICS DILEMMA(Primrose Path)
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DIMENSION OF SOCIAL SPACE SOCIAL COOPERATION
PROBLEMDIMENSION OF TIME SELF-CONTROL PROBLEM
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HYPERBOLIC DELAY DISCOUNTING
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HYPERBOLIC SOCIAL DISCOUNTING
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• HYPERBOLIC DELAY DISCOUNTING
• HYPERBOLIC SOCIAL DISCOUNTING

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• Instead of a one-dimensional maximizing entity,
  or even the two-dimensional individual who
  allocates intertemporally, this model envisages a
  three-dimensional surface with an interpersonal
  distance dimension replacing the concept of
  altruism.
• The conceptual framework employed here obviates
  the age-old question about whether an act of
  giving by one individual to another should
  properly be labeled altruism, or whether
  instead one is really being selfish by making
  oneself feel good. An individuals discount
  weights vis-à-vis other individuals may be
  considered a full description of the individual
  in this connection, assuming that the
  individuals behavior corresponds to his or her
  discounts in relation to other individuals. In
  this scheme, there is no place for intentions,
  and hence there are no false intentions. Revealed
  preferences constitute the entire system.
• Julian Simon, 1995

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SELF-CONTROL AND ALTRUISM TOGETHER
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CONTINGENCIES OF THE PRISONERS DILEMMA GAME
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PRISONERS DILEMMA GAME BOARD
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REWARDS 1-2-3-4
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REWARDS 1-2-5-6
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WHAT THEN IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ADDICTS AND
NON-ADDICTS?

• ADDICTS PLAY A SELF-CONTROL AS IF IT WERE A
  SOCIAL COOPERATION GAME.
• ADDICTS DEFECT AGAINST THEIR LONG-TERM INTERESTS
  BECAUSE THEIR FUTURE SELVES ARE STRANGERS TO THEM.

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ONGOING EXPERIMENTS

• Social discounting with real money.
• Obtaining relationships and personal
  characteristics for each value of N.
• Looking for correlations (or their lack) among
  delay discounting, social discounting, and
  smoking.
• How social discounting correlates with play in
  prisoners dilemma games versus tit-for-tat and
  versus another subject.

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FUTURE EXPERIMENTS

• PREDICTING CHOICE OF BOTH DELAYED AND SOCIALLY
  DISTANT REWARDS (AS WHEN PLEDGING TO GIVE TO
  PUBLIC TELEVISION IN THE FUTURE) FROM INDIVIDUAL
  DELAY AND SOCIAL DISCOUNT FUNCTIONS.