Lynne Kiesling
A game-theoretic analysis of one of the most enduring conflicts between men and women: toilet seat up or down? This paper in the Science Creative Quarterly provides a game-theoretic analysis that incorporates the cost of the domestic dissent, specifically, the cost to the male of the yelling that will ensue when the female finds the toilet seat up.
... If a female finds the toilet seat in a wrong position then she will most probably yell at the male involved. This yelling inflicts a cost on the male. Based on this omission, women may argue that the analysis in these papers is suspect.In this paper, we internalize the cost of yelling and model the conflict as a non-cooperative game between two species, males and females.We find that the social norm of leaving the toilet seat down is inefficient. However, to our dismay, we also find that the social norm of always leaving the toilet seat down after use is not only a Nash equilibrium in pure strategies but is also trembling-hand perfect. So, we can complain all we like, but this norm is not likely to go away.
In addition to being a clever and well-written short piece, this article references an excellent paper by a former NU graduate student: Azar, Ofer H. (2005), “Who Do We Tip and Why? An Empirical Investigation,” Applied Economics, 37(16), 1871-1879.
Interesting that this depends on the female being utterly unwilling to move the toilet seat and yelling at any perturbation of her rule (rule that the seat be down, not rule as in monarchy, though at this level there's a similarity).
If the male were willing to yell at the female in return, every time he had to move the seat, would there even be a Nash equilibrium?
(For that matter, if we expand the analysis, might the "shrew factor" (negative effects of such yelling) push the equilibrium the other way, if she values the relationship as a whole?
Makes me glad I pee sitting down - not because I'd get yelled at, as a bachelor, but because it makes for less need to clean the bathroom, and it's more restful.)
Most of the problem with males not putting the seat back down has to do with the fact that it takes extra effort - you have to bend down and make sure the seat doesn't come crashing down with a loud thud. This of course, is solved by a dampering hing device like most TOTO toilets come with. Why all toilets don't come with such a device is beyond me - Toto toilets have "saved" my marriage! :-)
The only real solution is to buy a house with his and hers toilets.
Or marry a woman from a different culture who has never heard about this issue.
I did both.
We, too, have Toto toilets with the dampening hinges. Very civilized! So civilized that we keep not only the seat down, but also the lid.
In fact, the Toto technology (which has propagated to some other brands) made me look at this article with some amusement, because it's become a complete non-issue in our house.
Nonsense article.
My wife and I worked out this dilemma in the terms of our engagement--both of us put the seat and lid down all the time after use. That way male and female users both have the inconvenience of lifting up something (lid alone, or lid and seat) and it eliminates free riders. Although technically, male users bear a slight extra cost in the effort of lifting both lid and seat. But since it was my idea, I keep quiet.
Dan
Ladies I understand your frustration when men leave the toilet seat up! Trust me. I moved in with my GF and I always simply forgot to put the seat down, I really meant to put it back down but I always forgot! So one day I used the potty and my GF had left me a sticky note reminding me of it, whatever..., however it occurred to me that it would be cool if I had some sort of reminder that I can use to put the seat down, but also not feel like she was demanding it from me. What I did was to come up with a sticker with some funny designs and a short message to get the point across. I first tried it in a party at my house, everybody loved it and surprisingly the bathroom was kept clean the whole night. Then gave away some of my stickers to other friends and the results were outstanding. I could go on and on...zzzz but just try them yourself check them out at www.pottytrainmyman.com that is my site, you will crack up! Thanks to you all and good luck! Humor keeps us loving life.
Also check MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=276843165