Key Elements of Normative Games:
🧑🤝🧑 Players:
- Individuals, groups, or communities with their own set of cultural values and beliefs.
- Players may act based on moral, social, or religious norms.
- Decisions are influenced by social pressures, shame, or honor.
📜 Norms:
- Unwritten rules that define acceptable behaviors within each culture or group.
- These norms may conflict with optimal strategies.
- Violating norms can lead to social penalties (e.g., exclusion).
💎 Values:
- Goals or ideals that players aim to uphold or promote.
- Example: fairness, honesty, or collective harmony.
🔄 Normative Interactions:
- Player choices are based on their culture and norms, which can lead to convergence or conflict.
- Example: One group may value individualism, while another emphasizes cooperation.
🏆 Rewards and Sanctions:
- The outcomes of player actions, which can be financial, emotional, or social.
- Rewards include increased credibility, trust, or social acceptance.
- Sanctions include loss of credibility, blame, or social exclusion.
🔑 Key Concepts:
⚖️ Normative Equilibrium:
- A state where players achieve the best possible result by following their norms and values.
- This may conflict with Nash equilibrium, as players might forgo optimal economic strategies to preserve cultural values.
💥 Norm Conflict Game:
- A game where differing norms between players lead to conflict.
- Example: Interaction between an individualistic culture and a collectivist culture in group decision-making.
🌍 Cross-Cultural Games:
- Modeling interactions between communities or groups with different cultural backgrounds.
- These games focus on how cultures adapt or clash in shared contexts.
🧮 Proposed Mathematical Framework:
🔢 Normative Utility Function:
- For each player, utility includes not just financial or material gain but also normative values:
- Financial and material benefits.
- The value of adhering to cultural norms.
- Social rewards such as trust or reputation.
🔄 Normative Interaction:
- A player’s decision depends not only on the strategies of others but also on their acceptance or rejection of each other’s norms:
- The degree of compatibility between players’ norms.
📈 Real-World Examples:
🌐 International Trade:
- Companies operating in different societies must respect each market’s cultural norms.
- Example: Differences in negotiation styles in Asian cultures (emphasis on harmony and respect) versus Western cultures (directness and competition).
🕊️ Political Negotiations:
- Diplomacy between countries with conflicting values (e.g., human rights vs. national sovereignty).
- Example: The Iran nuclear deal negotiations.
💪 Social Issues:
- Interaction between different groups in societies with high cultural diversity.
- Example: Acceptance or resistance to normative changes in ethical issues (e.g., women’s rights or minority rights).
🎯 Theory Goal:
- To help better understand intercultural conflicts and cooperation.
- Designing strategies that take into account both material interests and cultural norms.
- Finding sustainable solutions to social and international problems.
📊 Expanded Dimensions:
⚔️ Normative Conflict:
- In some games, players experience conflict due to differing norms.
⚖️ Weighting Norms in Strategy:
- Norms can have different weights in players’ decision-making.
- Example: In Culture A, “group loyalty” holds 70% weight, while in Culture B, “personal advancement” holds 60% weight. Players decide based on these priorities.
🔄 Multi-Stage Strategies:
- In normative games, interactions can repeat, and players can adjust their strategies based on previous interactions.
- Learning Strategies:
- “Gradual adaptation” where players adjust their behavior over time to reduce conflict.
- “Value change” where players with weaker norms adopt stronger ones.
- Learning Strategies:
🌍 Real-World Cases and Analysis:
🌐 International Trade: Samsung in Iran:
Scenario:
- Samsung, a Korean company, enters the Iranian market. Two distinct cultures exist:
- Korean Culture: Focuses on group coordination and teamwork without direct competition.
- Iranian Culture: Emphasizes personal relationships and informal trust-building.
Challenge:
- Koreans initially emphasize formal structures and protocols, while Iranians prioritize informal, personal connections.
Solution based on Normative Game Theory:
- Samsung can adopt a gradual adaptation strategy:
- Initially focus on formal protocols for staff training.
- Later create opportunities for informal communications (e.g., cultural exchange meetings).
- Normative Equilibrium: By blending Korean and Iranian norms, Samsung can achieve a sustainable result.
🕊️ Political Negotiations: Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA):
Scenario:
- Negotiations between Iran and Western countries over the nuclear program.
Western Values: Transparency and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Iranian Values: National sovereignty and scientific advancement.
Challenge:
- The West seeks strict monitoring mechanisms, while Iran views these as a threat to its independence.
Analysis using Normative Games:
- Normative Conflict: A mismatch between “transparency” and “national sovereignty.”
- Conflict Index (DDD): High, as both parties see their values as non-negotiable.
Solution:
- Conflict Reduction Strategy:
- Iran may offer more transparency but within a framework that acknowledges its sovereignty.
- The West could apply indirect monitoring with gradual trust-building measures.
💪 Social Issues: Women’s Rights in Traditional Societies:
Scenario:
- Women’s rights activists in a traditional society work to change laws regarding women’s rights.
Traditional Norm: Male superiority and women’s roles within the family. Modern Norm: Gender equality and equal rights.
Challenge:
- Conflict between generations and groups with opposing norms.
Analysis using Normative Games:
- Normative Conflict (DDD): Very high, as the normative values are vastly different.
- Traditional Group Behavior: Resistance to changing norms.
- Modern Group Behavior: Push for legal reforms.
Solution:
- Gradual Adaptation Strategy:
- Introduce small, incremental changes that don’t completely contradict traditional norms.
- Example: Begin with teaching gender equality in schools and media.
- Normative Reward: Increased social respect and acceptance for those who support these changes.