Prisoner's Dilemma
A standard example of a game analyzed in game theory that shows why two completely ‘rational' individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so.
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Origin
Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher devised the underlying game in 1950 at the RAND Corporation, initially testing it on colleagues Armen Alchian and John Williams. Later that year, mathematician Albert W. Tucker reframed the payoffs as prison sentences for a talk at Stanford, giving the dilemma its name and its now-iconic narrative.
Updated February 22, 2026