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Abstract

Forty-eight male and 48 female subjects were randomly assigned to same-sex or mixed-sex simulated other dyads and played a reiterated Prisoner's Dilemma game consisting of 10 trials at either 80% cooperative or 20% cooperative, randomly programmed, followed by 50 trials of within trial tit-for-tat. Significant differences were found for trial blocks (p <.001), trial blocks by sex of partner (p <.01), trial blocks by pretreatment (p <.05), and trial blocks by sex of subject by pretreatment condition (p <.001). When all experimental groups were combined, there was an increase shown in cooperative behavior from the initial pretreatment to the final block of trials. Male partners elicited a higher level of cooperation than female partners when the initial interaction was cooperative. The 80% cooperative groups cooperated at a higher level than the 20% cooperative groups. And finally, the female groups cooperated at a higher level than the male groups in both pretreatment conditions.

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References

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Random Strategies and Sex Differences in the Prisoner's Dilemma Game

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