Traveler's Dilemma
Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30
CORE DEFINITION
Two travelers lose identical antiques, with claims ranging from 2 to 100 dollars. Rules: each reports a value. If the values match, they receive that amount; if they differ, the lower value is paid, but the one who reported lower gets a bonus of 2 dollars, while the one who reported higher gets a penalty of 2 dollars. - Nash equilibrium: both report 2 (the minimum), because to earn an extra 2 dollars, you keep undercutting. - Real-world experiments: most people report 100 (the maximum) and earn money. -
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
The folly of hyper-rationality. - This is a 'smart
Anchor fast decisions
Two travelers each declare their loss (2~100); the lower declarer is rewarded and the higher penalized; fully rational iterative elimination of dominated strategies pushes the equilibrium to the minimum of 2, even though cooperative high declarations could benefit both, revealing the paradox between rationality and payoff.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/3Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%85%E8%A1%8C%E8%80%85%E5%9B%B0%E5%A2%83verified
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