Social scientists have worked for generations on ways to model and understand human behavior. One of the most intriguing branches of this kind of sociology is game theory, which uses basic principles of competition to try to explain what motivates people. Here are some of the field's most interesting discoveries:

The games in game theory aren’t like games you play with the family – they’re more like mathematical models of behavior. Some of the most famous include the “normal form game,” which is expressed in a matrix of boxes that illustrate player’s choices, as well as the “centipede game,” used to examine situations where players can risk increasing amounts of a reward or lose it all.

Game theory enjoyed a boost of popularity during the 1950s, as analysis of the classic “prisoner’s dilemma” puzzle tied in with psychology to model human beings' motives for behaving the ways they do.

One of the disciplines that uses game theory most extensively is economics. Because most economic transactions can be judged as two parties wishing to obtain the greatest reward for the lowest risk, using game theory models to understand their behaviors is very effective. The key model for economic studies is the Nash equilibrium, which represents the best possible response from all players. You might have heard the name Nash in the recent film A Beautiful Mind.