Reflections On

Battle of The Sexes

WRITTEN BY
HAFSA JAHAN
Reflections On
Battle of The Sexes
WRITTEN BY
HAFSA JAHAN
Conflict is characterized as a difference of opinion
with another person. It can also be described as a
difference of feeling or even a difference of idea,
opinion, or belief. Conflict is defined as behavior
resulting from differences in people's feelings,
thoughts, and/or actions. It is generally accepted
that conflicts are the root source of disagreements.
Although disagreements are typically associated
with negative characteristics, they can also have
positive effects on relationships and
communication. When a disagreement arises, the
person may attempt to diffuse it by making the
environment more peaceful. A good dispute
resolution strategy is coming to a compromise.
Giving up a small amount of something is what is
meant by compromising so that the goals of all
parties concerned can be realized. The practice of
attempting a positive resolution to a problem is
called conflict resolution. No one likes to confess
they were wrong because nobody wants to accept
responsibility. Managing disagreement in a way
that causes you to feel more stressed out might be
bad for your health.
It's crucial to learn how to handle conflict in a
healthy way that doesn't cause you undue stress in
order to enhance both your relationships and your
well-being. People can approach conflict in a
variety of ways, such as directly or by completely
avoiding it. We frequently encounter comments,
behaviors, wants, urges, wishes, demands, or
opinions that are incompatible with or antagonistic
to our own in both our personal and professional
life.
Conflict is a feeling that something is wrong and
needs to be solved or explained. It is more than just
an argument that manifests itself through yelling
and conduct. Although it is never simple, conflict
resolution is necessary for our habitual nature and
human existence. What connection does conflict
have to the Battle of Sexes, then?
The battle of the sexes is a two-player cooperation
game in game theory that also has conflicting
aspects. R. Duncan Luce and Howard Raiffa first
described the game in their influential book, Games
and Decisions, published in 1957. The game of sexes
is frequently described as a contest between a man
and a woman. A couple quarrels during the battle of
the sexes about what to do. Although they both
want to spend the weekend together, they can't
decide how to spend it. Cooperation and/or activity
coordination benefits the man and the woman
equally.
The game Battle of the sexes are more likely to
produce better results if they are repeated.
Although the woman prefers one activity and the
man prefers another, they both prefer to undertake
any activity together since they enjoy each other's
company. The players can agree on alternate
decisions about which results to adopt.
A two-player coordination game used in game
theory is called The Battle of the Sexes. In this
game, a less-than-ideal result is quite likely if
everyone merely does what they believe is best
without any cooperation. As we previously
mentioned, a couple quarrels in the battle of the
sexes about what to do on the weekend.
The woman wants to go shopping, but the man
prefers to go see a movie in a theater. Both will
benefit from being together if they go shopping or
to the theater to see a movie, but only one of them
will find enjoyment in the action. Although they
both want to spend the weekend together, they
can't decide how to spend it.
They have been debating this and are finding it
difficult to reach an agreement. Despite having
diverse tastes, they both want to go somewhere
specific together at the end of the day. A classic
illustration of a coordination game is this one. In
this game, they must reach a stage where both
players have chosen their actions and a result has
been decided. The couple desires to spend time
together, therefore parting ways will not be useful
(a set of payoffs will be (0, 0).
The description of this game in strategic form is
therefore as follows.

 If they go shopping or to the theater, both will

benefit from being together, but only one of them
will find the activity enjoyable. The Battle of the
Sexes game is typically used as an example to
demonstrate the challenges of coordination, as can
be seen from the diagram. In this instance, this is
readily apparent by looking for a dominant strategy
and removing all dominated strategies.

 We base our assumptions on the diagram's

depiction that (1) "to go separately to the disliked
event" yields the same payment as "to go separately
to the favorite event" and (2) the couples have just
two options. The game typically serves as an
example of the concept of Nash equilibrium and its
possible multiplicity. Two dominant strategies and
two Nash equilibria will exist (underlined in red).

 A well-known example of game theory is

the Battle of the Sexes, which is frequently
used to highlight the challenges of (non-
cooperative) coordination amongst agents
who have varied preferences for potential
actions but a strong preference for playing
the same action.

The Battle of the Sexes figure shows how to resolve

this conundrum through the use of mixed strategies,
in which we weigh our rewards against the likelihood
that our opponent will select either one of two tactics.
It is clear that there are two pure strategy (and one
mixed strategy) equilibria when presented in the
standard form. Coordination failure is not an
equilibrium in the "Battle of the Sexes."

 References:

Luce, R.D. and Raiffa, H. (1957) Games and Decisions: An

Introduction and Critical Survey, Wiley & Sons (see Chapter
5, section 3).
Osborne, Martin and Ariel Rubinstein (1994). A Course in
Game Theory. The MIT Press.
Luce, R.D. and Raiffa, H. (1957) Games and Decisions: An
Introduction and Critical Survey, Wiley & Sons. (see
Chapter 5, section 3).
Fudenberg, D. and Tirole, J. (1991) Game theory, MIT Press.
(see Cahpter 1, section 2.4)