The Power of One: Games People Play:Game Theory in Life, Business, and Beyond

Monday, April 29, 2013

Games People Play:Game Theory in Life, Business, and Beyond

eCourse #1426

Why do we act the way we do?

When in business negotiations-- heated or not, do you cooperate or compete? Are you a rational decision maker?

Photo: I-sight.com

In 24 insightful lectures, award winning Professor Scott P. Stevens (James Madison University) presents you with the fundamentals of game theory in a manner that is both engaging and easy to understand.

"Learn the 'basic games' on which more complex interactions are built."

Any game can be described as an interaction involving two or more players who share a common knowledge about the game's structure and make rational decisions about the strategies that will best achieve the maximum possible payoff. But along the pathways that lead from that basic description to the far more complex games that can be built from it—from billion-dollar negotiations to nuclear confrontations—you find a fascinating collection of questions.

Watch a video preview: Games People Play: Game Theory in Life, Business, and Beyond

Are decisions being made simultaneously, with players not knowing what others are doing? Or are they made sequentially, with each player's decision following another's? Are binding agreements between players possible? Is the element of chance involved? Do all players have the same information? As these questions are answered, games can take different forms, and planning a strategy requires basic analytical tools.

Game theory learned in Games People Play: Game Theory in Life, Business, and Beyond can help decision makers cut through an often confusing clutter of information—allowing us to arrive at better decisions in our own lives or better understand the decisions facing other players in games.--

[My personal comment: I think of this course every time I watch ABC's episodic drama SCANDAL (Thursdays 10/9c). Think you've got what it takes to be a "fixer" like Olivia Pope? Set aside the ultra fancy clothes, I believe 'Games People Play,' along with the two recommended courses below-- will get you well on the way to understanding the behind-the-scenes fundamentals of what it takes to handle the tough job, real world fixers have before them. High intensity, complex negotiations aren't for the faint at heart. Fixers bring out the big guns and get it done once and for all.]