zero-sum game

in game theory, a type of game in which the players’ gains and losses add up to zero. The total amount of resources available to the participants is fixed, and therefore one player’s gain necessarily entails the others’ loss. The term is used particularly in analyses of bargaining and economic behavior but is sometimes also used in other sociocultural contexts (e.g., politics). Compare non-zero-sum game.

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Psychology term of the day

November 24th 2024

stimulus discrimination

the ability to distinguish among different stimuli (e.g., to distinguish a circle from an ellipse) and to respond differently to them.