ABSTRACT
In discussing information in an interactional framework, I have found it useful to employ a game-type model. To study any sustained interaction as a game, it is not necessary for the participants themselves to conceive of their situation as a game. Rather, to regard any two participants—say, John and Marsha (one might just as easily substitute the United States and the Soviet Union)—as involved in a game they need only fulfill this condition: John, in seeking to realize his goals, takes into account Marsha’s expectations of him and also Marsha’s expectations of what he expects from her, and vice versa. Since it is hard to conceive of any sustained interaction that does not fulfill this condition, the game framework seems applicable to the study of all social encounters.
