Stability and Outcome Tradeoffs in Asymmetric Dilemmas: Conditions Promoting the Discovery of Alternating Solutions

Abstract

This paper addresses the difficulties of cooperation in asymmetric dilemmas, interactions where two or more parties have mixed motives and receive different known outcomes if they mutually cooperate or mutually noncooperate. This context thus addresses dilemmas in general rather than the unlikely but more often studied symmetric dilemma. Observations from a series of studies indicate that, in dilemmas that provide one party with leverage and the other with potential regret, and which reduce the potential benefits of mutual cooperation for the party with leverage, the parties alternate asymmetrically in receiving valued outcomes. These observations provide the basis for a set of propositions that predict when alternation is most likely and when it is an equilibrium strategy.