Understanding the Tit-for-Tat Strategy

Martin Barraud/Getty Images
By
Mike Moffatt
Mike Moffatt
Professor of Business, Economics, and Public Policy
  • Ph.D., Business Administration, Richard Ivey School of Business
  • M.A., Economics, University of Rochester
  • B.A., Economics and Political Science, University of Western Ontario
Mike Moffatt, Ph.D., is an economist and professor. He teaches at the Richard Ivey School of Business and serves as a research fellow at the Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management.
Learn about our Editorial Process
Updated on March 17, 2017
The midsection of a man playing chess
Read More
What Is Game Theory?
By Ashley Crossman

In the context of game theory, "tit-for-tat" is a strategy in a repeated game (or a series of similar games). Procedurally, the tit-for-tat strategy is to choose the 'cooperate' action in the first round and, in subsequent rounds of play, choose the action that the other player chose in the previous round. This strategy generally results in a situation where cooperation is sustained once it begins, but noncooperative behavior is punished by a lack of cooperation in the next round of play.

Format
mla apa chicago
Your Citation
Moffatt, Mike. "Understanding the Tit-for-Tat Strategy." ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/the-tit-for-tat-game-theory-strategy-1147269. Moffatt, Mike. (2020, August 27). Understanding the Tit-for-Tat Strategy. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/the-tit-for-tat-game-theory-strategy-1147269 Moffatt, Mike. "Understanding the Tit-for-Tat Strategy." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-tit-for-tat-game-theory-strategy-1147269 (accessed April 25, 2024).