Strange Bedfellows: The Game Theory Behind Counterintuitive Alliances with David Pinsof

In this episode, we talk to David Pinsof about the surprising ways people form their beliefs and build alliances . Drawing on his survey with Cards Against Humanity, he shares how people often hold contradictory views and what this reveals about group coordination. We also dive into his game-theoretic model of coalition-building, explore how humor functions as a coordination tool, and discuss the deeper logic behind seemingly irrational behavior. David Pinsof is a behavioral scientist whose work combines evolutionary psychology and game theory, to understand belief formation and social dynamics. He is also one of the co-creators of "Cards against Humanity" , the author of the blog Everything Is Bullshit and recently launched the podcast - Evolutionary Psychology (The Podcast) - in which he explores cutting-edge work in the evolutionary behavioral sciences. You can find the paper „Strange Bedfellows" David mentioned in the episode here .

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Strange Bedfellows: The Game Theory Behind Counterintuitive Alliances with David Pinsof is an episode from Game Changer - the game theory podcast by TWS Partners.

This episode is 28:26 long.

This episode was published on Jun 16, 2025.

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