Integration and Acculturation of Cooperative Behavior among Blackfoot Indian and Non-Indian Canadian Children

Abstract

Teams of boys from an integrated elementary school played a game on the Madsen Cooperation Board which, while permitting either cooperative or competitive behavior, rewarded cooperative behavior. Indian teams, allwhite teams, and integrated teams all showed a similar pattern of behavior on the game. This pattern was markedly different from the behavior patterns which have been demonstrated for either Blackfoot or white children from nonintegrated schools. The behavior of all the groups from the integrated school was midway between that of nonintegrated white and Blackfoot children in terms of the frequency of cooperative responses. The data are discussed in terms of acculturation and the effects of integrated schooling.

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References

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