I spoke this morning at the 50th anniversary of the National
Conference on Citizenship. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) spoke
later, as did John Bridgeland, Executive Director of USA Freedom Corps
and advisor to President Bush. After Mr. Bridgeland spoke, someone
in the audience rose to say that he had just seen a car blatantly
stolen outside the hotel, and no one (except himself) had done anything
to try to stop it. His implication: We need to teach young people
good values, just like in the good old days. The standard politician
would take the bait and say that morals have declined, it’s a terrible
thing, but this administration is committed to character education.
John Bridgeland, however, is a thoughtful and sophisticated
guy, and he immediately recalled the game-theoretical explanation
of cases like this. For each person who witnesses the crime, the worst
outcome is that no one does anything to stop it. But the second-worst
outcome for each person is that he or she is the one who intervenes.
Chart the situation on a game-theorist’s grid, and you’ll see that
no one is likely to do anything. Mr. Bridgeland revealed that he was
thinking about game theory when he called the situation outside the
hotel a "chicken game." I found it appealing that he gave
an answer that was interesting, probably true, and that didn’t score
him any political points. (By the way, chicken games offer the most
useful advice ever generated by game theory. If you need immediate
assistance, don’t shout "help," to a crowd. Pick an individual
arbitrarily and say, "You, please help me.")