The choice behavior of second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade children from five different cultural backgrounds was observed in the Maximizing Difference Game, an outcome interdependence task where individualistic and cooperative motives were placed in opposition to competitive ones. In four of the cultures, boys received either social comparison feedback or only information concerning their own cumulative scores. As predicted, the level of competitive responding increased as a function of age, social comparison information, and number of trials. Further, there were systematic cultural differences. A newly developed covariation analysis revealed that individual dyad variation accounted for more covariation than the main effects noted above. Hence, several types of withindyad analyses were performed. Finally, cultures were classified in terms of the characteristic play by dyad members and the results compared with a classification developed by Mead, in which she ordered the cooperative, competitive, and individualistic orientations of members of 13 "primitive" societies.A significant part of human action takes place in settings of outcome interdependence, namely, under conditions where the outcomes experienced by two or more actors are simultaneously dependent upon their own and others' behavior. Through experience in

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