Battling Bad Behavior - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences


	The article you are attempting to read is Premium content which is only available to our online subscribers.

Subscribing to The Scientist is easy and inexpensive.

And you can choose from many options. Try us out with an online day pass starting at only $4.95. Or, get it all with unlimited online access to The Scientist Archive and door-to-door delivery of our monthly print magazine.


	The Scientist also offers site licenses to institutions and organizations. When your librarian adds The Scientist to the library's collection, you can get unlimited online access through your place of work or study. Recommend The Scientist today



Battling Bad Behavior Many of society's most vexing problems - the rise of antibiotic resistance, the current epidemic of obesity, armed conflicts that leave both sides worse off - have their roots in the suboptimal and often puzzling actions of individuals. At times conflicting self-interests power such behavior; the best solutions from a collective perspective fail due to the nature of individual payoffs.1 In