Dilemma - Types of Dilemmas

Types of Dilemmas

Colorful names have been given to many types of dilemmas.

  • Double bind: conflicting requirements ensure that the victim will automatically be wrong.
  • Ethical dilemma: a choice between moral imperatives.
  • Extortion: the choice between paying the extortionist and suffering an unpleasant action.
  • Fairness dilemmas: when groups are faced with making decisions about how to share their resources, rewards, or payoffs
  • Hobson's choice: a choice between something and nothing; "take it or leave it".
  • Morton's fork: choices yield equivalent, often undesirable, results.
  • Prisoner's dilemma: An inability to coordinate makes cooperation difficult and defection tempting.
  • Samaritan's dilemma: the choice between providing charity, improving another's condition, and withholding it, preventing them from becoming dependent.
  • Sophie's choice: a choice between two persons or things that will result in the death or destruction of the person or thing not chosen.
  • Zugzwang: One must move and incur harm when one would prefer to make no move (esp. in chess).

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