2012/02/27

約會的博弈論

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約會的博弈論 (Dating Game Theory)


因在Kindle Store看到一本書名為"Numbers behind Numb3rs", 內容是介紹一套美國電視劇"NUMB3RS"劇中描述的數學理論.  所以對這齣'Numb43rs'感興趣而開始了追美劇的生涯......

近日在收看其中一集時主角在討論送甚麼禮物給女朋友時提及了一個有趣的約會的博弈論研究, 果然有點道理!

在倫敦大學學院UCL有兩位數學家以約會經濟學作出有趣的研究, 並在倫敦皇家學會的期刊論文報告。新聞稿提及：
他們分析了約會禮物的功能和一個'好'禮物的特點是什麼。

他們認為禮品可以表達男仕的意圖。一件貴重的禮物，可能預示男仕希望維持長期的承諾，但他們又擔心女仕是淘金者, 一旦她得到禮物就打算甩了他。

所以通過模擬約會禮物作為一連串的博弈，他們發現一個'好'禮物的特點是:

一件對男子是昂貴奢侈的禮物，但對女人來說是不值錢的 (an extravagant gift, which is costly to the man but worthless to the woman)，這樣便能解決問題。

.... 哈哈, 終於有點兒明白為何鮮花仍然是追女仔長青的禮物! 


The dating game theory Fun research from Peter Sozou and Robert Seymour at UCL on the economics of dating. From the press release:

Reporting in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B they analysed the function of a courtship gift and what the characteristics of a ‘good’ gift are.
They show that gifts can act as a signal of a man’s intention. Offering an expensive gift may signal a long-term commitment but the man must be wary of being exploited by a gold-digger who intends to dump him once she gets the gift.
By modelling courtship as a sequential game, they show that an extravagant gift, which is costly to the man but worthless to the woman, may solve the problem.
A costly gift signals the man has long-term intentions but by being worthless to the woman, gold-diggers are deterred.[...]
The researchers constructed two versions of the game with different biological assumptions based on whether the male is involved with parental care.
Attractiveness is relevant to human courtship (model 1). Male condition and female receptiveness are the deciding factors in non-parental care species (model 2). In both cases these were represented as binary variables.
Factors in the game such as whether the male and female found each other attractive were given a probability and the possible outcomes of the interaction, either positive or negative for each player, were given scores to represent the consequences of their decisions.[...]
They considered the ‘fitness’ consequences based on a single courtship encounter involving a male and female. Despite the different biological assumptions, the two models had the same underlying mathematical structure, with both yielding equilibrium solutions in which males predominantly offer costly but worthless gifts as a prelude to mating.


Ref:
Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B
Date 27/07/05
Title: ‘Costly but worthless gifts facilitate courtship’
Authors: Peter Sozou, Robert Seymour
UCL’s Centre for Mathematics and Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT

Another application of game thoery showing in the film 'A Beautiful Mind'.
http://youtu.be/36M_wWShgMY


(Source: http://blog.2ubh.com/2005/07/dating-game-theory.html)

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