How to Discover Your Decision-Making Style with Game Theory
Learn what classic games like the Prisoner's Dilemma, Ultimatum and Trust games reveal about cooperation, fairness and risk, and how to play them on iPhone with MindType.
Personality quizzes ask how you think you behave. Game theory experiments show how you actually decide when choices have consequences. Economists and psychologists have used a few simple games for decades to study cooperation, fairness, trust and risk. Playing them yourself is an entertaining way to notice your own patterns.
The classic games and what they show
Prisoner's Dilemma. Two players each choose to cooperate or defect. Defecting protects you individually, but if both cooperate, both do better. Your choices show how much you cooperate when trust is uncertain, and how you respond after being betrayed.
Ultimatum game. One player proposes how to split an amount; the other accepts or rejects. Rejection means neither gets anything. Many people reject offers they see as unfair even though it costs them, which reveals how strongly you value fairness.
Trust game. You decide how much to send to another player, knowing the amount grows and they decide how much to return. It measures how much you trust strangers and how you reciprocate.
Risk and patience choices. Choosing between a sure smaller reward and a risky larger one, or between something now and more later, shows your risk tolerance and patience.
How to play them with MindType
MindType turns these scenarios into short games on iPhone, each taking about three minutes. After every game you see your scores and how your choices compare. Over time your results are mapped across dimensions such as cooperation, trust, risk, fairness and patience, and matched to one of six decision archetypes. You can play without creating an account.
Getting useful results
- Answer as you would really act, not as you think you should.
- Play several different games before reading too much into one result.
- Return after a few weeks; your choices can change with context and mood.
- Look for a pattern you can act on, such as giving up on cooperation too quickly after one bad outcome.
Keep it in perspective
These games are a mirror, not a diagnosis. MindType is an entertainment and educational app and does not replace a professional psychological assessment.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Prisoner's Dilemma?
A game in which two players each choose to cooperate or defect. Each does better individually by defecting, but both do better if both cooperate. It is used to study cooperation and trust when you cannot be sure what the other person will do.
What is the Ultimatum game?
One player proposes how to split an amount and the other accepts or rejects. If the offer is rejected, neither gets anything. People often reject offers they see as unfair even at a cost to themselves, which shows how much they value fairness.
Is there a quiz for decision-making style?
Many quizzes ask how you think you behave. MindType instead has you play short game theory scenarios and builds a profile from the choices you actually make. It is for self-discovery and entertainment, not a clinical assessment.
Can I play the Prisoner's Dilemma on my phone?
Yes. MindType for iPhone includes the Prisoner's Dilemma alongside games such as Trust and Ultimatum, each taking about three minutes.