Race and sex of adolescents and cooperation in a mixed-motive game

Abstract

This investigation was undertaken to determine if economically deprived adolescents are more cooperative in a Prisoner's Dilemma game if their partner is of their own race. Other independent variables investigated were race and sex of Ss. METHODThe Ss were 24 economically deprived junior high school students. The Ss were distributed so that there were six of each combination of race (Negro and white) and sex.By definition, a Prisoner's Dilemma game (pDG) provides that if both Ss cooperate, they both gain moderately, but if one defects (i.e., competes), he gains extensively while the other S loses. If both defect, both lose to a moderate degree. In this experiment, the payoff matrix allowed ftve points each when both Ss cooperated; when only one S cooperated, he lost 10 points while the defecting S gained 10 points; when neither S cooperated, both Ss lost ftve points. The points were noncumulative.The Ss (visually separated from each other) played the games in like-sexed dyads. Each S had two levers (C fot cooperation, D for defection), a ready light and four outcome lights before him. A trial consisted of a ready light and each S's lever press followed by the appropriate outcome light. There were four possible outcome combinations including both Ss cooperating (CC), only one S cooperating (CD, DC), or neither S cooperating (DD).Each S played the game twice, always with a partner of ~ same sex, once with a member of the same race and once with a member of the other race. Each game consisted of 50 trials. Composition of the dyads was counterbalanced so that one-half of the Ss of each race played with a partner of his own race first while the other half played with one of the other race fmt. A similar balance within the sexes was arranged. All dyads were asked to try and gain as many points as possible and not to communicate during the game. RESULTS The data were the number of cooperative (C) responses made by each S. These were totaled over each 25 trials (half of the game). A 2 by 2 by 2 (Race of S, Sex of Dyad, Race of Partner) analysis of variance with repeated measures on the last variable revealed several signiftcant results. As represented in Fig. I, sex functioned as a major signiftcant variable (p < .05) in that female Ss produced more cooperative responses than the male Ss. When the signiftcant (p < .05)Race by Sex interaction is taken into consideration, however, it is obvious that Negro males and females do not differ from each other in cooperative responses. The signiftcant Sex effect is due entirely to the large difference between white males and females with the latter being much more cooperative.Psycbon. Sci., 1968, Vol. 13 (2) Therefore, when playing the game with a member of the same sex, white females are more trusting and cooperative than white males. This difference did not exist between Negro males vs Negro females.Possibly the most interesting significant (p < .05) effect was that of the partner's race in combination with S's race. The Ss of both races and of both sexes produced significantly...

Cooperative Behavior in the Ultimatum Game and Prisoner’s Dilemma Depends on Players’ Contributions

“…The defect response to predicted opponent defection hypothesized in the preceding paragraph would therefore seem to be particularly marked in male participants, potentially consistent with the idea that males are more prone to “altruistic punishment” of perceived unfairness (Singer et al, 2006). Whilst previous literature regarding gender differences in the PD is mixed (Rapoport and Chammah, 1965; Sibley et al, 1968; Tedeschi et al, 1969; Kahn et al, 1971; Mack et al, 1971; Dawes et al, 1977; Orbell et al, 1994), here we demonstrate the importance of considering contribution as a key factor influencing cooperative behavior between the sexes. Interestingly, the genders did not differ on our task when contributions were equal, most similar to typical implementations of the PD.…”

Gender Differences in Cooperation: Experimental Evidence on High School Students

“…Prior research on the prisoner’s dilemma, social dilemmas, and public goods provision has found mixed results from a gender perspective. Psychological studies analyzing gender differences in the prisoner’s dilemma setting showed that men cooperate significantly more than women [ 15 - 17 ] on the contrary, other studies showed that women are more cooperative than men [ 18 , 19 ], while others found no significant differences in cooperation [ 20 , 21 ]. From an evolutionary biology perspective [ 22 ], found that women are more cooperative than men in Prisoner’s Dilemma games, but not in the Snowdrift’s game.…”

Locus of Control and Cooperative Behavior in 10-Year-Old Children

“…These characterizations have been applied to both adults and children (Broverman, Broverman, Clarkson, Rosenkrantz, & Vogel, 1970; Lambert, Yackley, & Hein, 1971; Sims, 1967) and have been supported in studies involving a variety of tasks, such as the Prisoner's Dilemma Game (Sibley, Senn, & Epanchin, 1968; Tedeschi, Heister, & Gahagan, 1969), visualmotor tasks of the type employed in the present study (Kagan & Madsen,620 The Journal of Social Psychology 1972a; Nelson, 1970;Szal, 1972), and more complex bargaining and coalition-formation games (Shears & Behrens, 1969). Some studies, however, have shown males to be more cooperative than females (Lindskold, Cullen, Gahagan, & Tedeschi, 1970), and some have obtained no sex differences (Brotsky & Thomas, 1967;Kagan & Madsen, 1972b).…”