As I sit in my Methods of Political Analysis class not paying attention, I can't help but think, "Wow, this class has taught me a lot about how to tackle personal life decisions."

I know what you're thinking: those two phrases should never be in a sentence together. Isn't political science just a bunch of kids who really just enjoy politics. Not true. OK... partially true. OK... very true. But we like a lot more than just politics, although it is a hot topic for most of our dinner table conversations.

Now, you must be thinking, "How can you apply political science to life decisions?" I mean besides the basics of how to vote and what reasons you should be voting on, you can take different political science concepts and apply them to your own personal life. And I'm not even talking about decisions such as investing in buying a home; I'm talking about decisions like whether or not to tell that special someone that you like him or her.

I'm going to make a slight assumption here and assume that most of my readers probably don't have an extensive political science background. But as a current poli sci major I can give a little insight into how political science theories can be applied to your own personal life. The one theory that comes to mind, which is also used frequently in assessing philosophical situations, is something called Game Theory.

Economics Professor at Princeton University, Avinash Dixit, gives a fairly simple explanation to PBS on what game theory is. It is the theory that "studies interactive decision-making, where the outcome for each participant or 'player' depends on the actions of all." So, essentially, it's trying to make a decision based on what actions you think others would take. This theory is particularly helpful for current political scientists as they try predicting how current politicians and major international players decide on current social and economic issues. But if you haven't made the connection quite yet, this theory can also be helpful to an individual's personal life.

You may be asking, "How do we apply game theory to our own lives? It seems pretty difficult." But it's actually not. The example that is used most often to explain game theory is something called the Prisoner's Dilemma. The premise of the prisoner's dilemma is that there are two prisoners that must make a decision based off of what they think that other prisoner would do. Therefore, there are four different outcomes.

The options are as followed:

1. Prisoner A and B can both confess and would get five years of jail time.

2. Prisoner A could confess and Prisoner B remains silent giving A no jail time and B gets 20 years of jail time.

3. Prisoner A remains silent and B confesses giving A 20 years of jail time, while B gets none.

4. And then the final option is that both players remain silent only getting one year of jail time.

Both players now have to make a decision based off of what they think the other player would do.

It still not might be clear how game theory or how the prisoner's dilemma applies to one's own personal life. And I will admit, it doesn't require as many options or complexity to make decisions, but the concept of predicting or analyzing what the other player's move is going to be can absolutely be applied to making decisions in life.

For example, say you have feelings for someone, and you are trying to decide on whether or not to tell that person you have feelings for him or her.

Now there are a few different outcomes that can come about but by applying game theory, we can predict what the best option is for the individual.

Here are the following outcomes ranking from worst to best (according to me-- not an objective truth, whatsoever):

1. You remain silent, but the other person does have feelings for you; so, he will never know that you liked him back.

2. You confess that you have feelings, but he doesn't have feelings for you. You guys go back to being just friends, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

3. You remain silent about your feelings, and he doesn't have feelings for you. You avoid that awkward conversation and continue to be great friends.

4. The best outcome is that you confess feelings, and he ends up having feelings for you! You guys live a happily ever after! Woohoo!

Clearly, the best outcome is number four, but that does not necessarily mean that that is the best option.

In order to conclude what the best option is, one must do extensive research and collect data. This all sounds a bit aloof and ridiculous. And that's true. But in all reality, this is what people do on a daily basis when making decisions, especially concerning relationships. We decide to tell someone that we like him or her because we know that there is a high chance of the person liking us back or we decide to remain silent about our feelings because we know there is a low chance. It is essentially a cost-benefit analysis. We analyze the outcomes and decide whether or not the benefits of potentially having the feelings be returned outweighs the costs of being vulnerable and potentially getting hurt. We make decisions, everyday, based on what benefits us and what would be going against us. Political scientists have just decided to give it a name.

Am I saying that you should always use game theory to make decisions concerning your love life or any other part of your life? Not necessarily. Relationships and love are far more complicated and complex than any sort of game of rationale, but what I am saying is that Game Theory is not so different to what we do on that daily basis. It lays out different outcomes of a particular situation and helps us make decisions based on the likelihood of those outcomes. It's important to look at what all the options are.

And at least for me, it has never been easy for me to make a decision about relationships without looking and analyzing all my options and outcomes. Game theory has taught me to look at those outcomes and make decisions based on those outcomes. But I also have learned that logic and rationale sometimes cannot be applied to relationships or feelings or even love. These are emotions that sometimes logic cannot control, which I have learned the hard way. Yeah, game theory helps you make decisions, but I've learned that understanding what your options are while also considering your own feelings will help you make the best decision you can make.

Feelings are hard, and that's OK.