Many people formulate¹ a strategy for the game rock, paper, scissors, which they believe is sure to beat the competition.

 

玩“石头、剪刀、布”的时候，许多人都有一套自己的策略，他们相信那就是自己制胜的诀窍。

 

But a new study reveals players actually don't stick to a plan, rather they become irrational² when making their next move - including using the same item that was once a winner.

 

Researchers suggest that if you want to be victorious³, choose paper because most people tend to go for rock.

 

WHAT DID THE STUDY FIND?

 

Even if participants had a set plan for their next move, their emotions would make the act irrational.

 

Each of the three items carries equal status, which means the only rational method is to use each one an equal number of times – any other approach is irrational, said researchers.

 

The study revealed that participants followed a 'win-stay, lose-shift' strategy in how they played the game, which means when they won a round they kept repeating their winning item.

 

It wasn't until they lost did they change their action.

 

Although the optimal⁴ strategy is to pick one of the three equally and at random⁵, most people tended to over use rock.

点击收听单词发音