THE EFFECTS OF MODES OF PRESENTATION AND LARGE REWARDS ON A PRISONERS' DILEMMA GAME.

Abstract

Eight male and eight female subjects played a matrix form of the Prisoners' Dilemma game; an additional eight male and eight female subjects played a non-matrix form of the game. Each subject played for both high monetary reward (maximum joint payoff of $1.00 per trial for 15 trials) and low monetary reward (maximum joint payoff of $.10 per trial for 15 trails). Half of the subjects played first for low reward and then for high. The order was reversed for the other half of the subjects. It was predicted that there would be greater cooperation when the subjects were given (1) large rewards as compared to small, and (2) non-matrix presentation as compared to matrix. The results failed to confirm these hypotheses. In addition, there were no sex differences in style of play nor were there significant interactions among the three variables. However, the overall level of cooperative play was considerably higher than is usually encountered in these games, averaging 55%, and the usual over trials decline in the percentage of cooperation was not observed. The results of the present study were compared with the results of more recent experiments which manipulated the same variables, and suggestions for future research were discussed. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 15, 1966
Accession Number
AD0632491

Entities

People

  • Philip S. Gallo Jr.

Organizations

  • University of California, Los Angeles

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Behavior And Behavior Mechanisms
  • Behavioral Disciplines And Activities
  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Cooperation
  • Group Dynamics
  • Hypotheses
  • Prisoners

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Brain and Cognitive Science; Experimental Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Game Theory.