Nice guys finish last - at least that’s how the saying goes.
But we’re here to destroy this myth and show you with scientific research and evidence,
how nice guys, undoubtedly, finish first.
There’s a neat problem called the The Prisoner’s Dilemma that has boggled many intelligent
minds for decades.
There are many variations, but in ours, two people face off against each other, with 2
different cards in their hands.
One says “COOPERATE” and the other says “DEFECT”.
Each round, both players pick one of the cards and play it face down without the other knowing
which they’ve chosen.
If both players choose “COOPERATE” then they each win $300.
If both players play “DEFECT” they both lose $10.
But if one person plays “COOPERATE” and the other plays “DEFECT”, the person who
played “DEFECT” wins $500 and the “COOPERATE” card loses $100.
So, how is this a dilemma?
Well, if I were to play the card DEFECT, your best move would also be DEFECT.
Sure, we both lose some money, but you haven’t lost as much as if you were to play COOPERATE.
And if I were to play COOPERATE, your best move would still be to play DEFECT - because
you would win the most money.
So no matter what the other does, DEFECT is always our best, most logical move.
And yet, if we both play our smartest move, we will always lose - fully knowing that if
we had simply COOPERATED we could have won $300.
But here’s the really interesting part; scientists have created computer simulations
to analyze and discover which strategy is the best to win the most money over hundreds
of turns.
And the winner was one called “Tit for Tat”.
It was programmed to always start with COOPERATE and after that it would copy the last move
of its opponent.
So if your opponent DEFECTs, then next time you DEFECT.
If they COOPERATE, then you COOPERATE next time.
Using this method not only helps to prevent you from getting duped over and over, but
statistically, leads to the highest earnings in all simulations, when compared to any other
strategy.
Ok so how does this relate to nice guys?
Well, it turns out the top ranked strategies were almost all the ones that begin with what
the scientists classified as “nice(ness)”.
That is, they would never be the first to defect, and would always cooperate first.
Furthermore, strategies which were quick to forgive others for deceiving them, and ones
that were non-envious aka happy when others won just as much money, were key factors to
success.
On the other hand, the more devious strategies that tried to trick or defect more often,
while temporarily gaining more, actually scored worst over the long term.
Seriously, out of 15 strategies, the top 8 scores came from those which contained ‘nice’
strategies, while the bottom 7 were more nasty or devious.
And this niceness, forgiveness and non-envious behaviour pays; not only in monetary terms
like our game, but even in the real world, from an evolutionary perspective.
Shockingly, we can actually see these strategies right in nature.
Many birds, for example, must work together to remove ticks in hard to reach spots - both
can cooperate and help each other out, whereby they both use energy but also benefit, or
one can receive help and then not return favour.
But it turns out that selfish birds are completely shunned from these communities.
Vampire bats, on the other hand, hunt for blood in the night but occasionally don’t
find any.
To increase their group success, the ones who do find blood will share it with those
who don’t, with the understanding that on their off nights, others will help them out.
And ultimately, all the bats are more successful if they carry this trait.
However, just like the Tit for Tat strategy, if a bat is selfish and doesn’t share, others
are less likely to share with it.
Those who are nice are more successful.
From an evolutionary perspective, animals which contain genes that promote nice behaviour
are likely to have more offspring.
It’s the basic underlying code for altruistic behavior - you help me and I’ll help you.
And ultimately, we’ll all do better!
So while some mean, cut-throat, or envious people may temporarily exploit and gain from
others, in the long run, not only nice guys, but nice people, really do finish first.
If you want to learn more about the human condition and altruism, check out the book
“The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins, which this episode was based on.
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