Cooperative Behavior among High School Students on the Prisoner's Dilemma Game

Abstract

39 high school girls from the North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA group) and 39 comparable girls from a regular city-county school system (HS group) were compared on degree of cooperative behavior to assess group differences between artistically oriented students and regular HS students. Cooperative behavior was assessed by having each S make 50 cooperative or competitive choices in the Prisoner's Dilemma game. The NCSA group was expected to be more competitive because within the performing arts, competition is a pervasive characteristic. Each Ss opponent was an accomplice of E who responded according to a predetermined schedule containing 76% cooperative responses. Each S changed opponents (accomplices) and repeated 50 trials under the same conditions. The NCSA group was less cooperative than the HS group (p < .01) except on the initial trials, and there was less cooperation on the second game than on the first (p < .01). The HS group did not decrease across trials in Game 1 as had been expected. The decrease in cooperation at the beginning of Game 2 was more marked for the NCSA group. Five scales on the Adjective Check List differentiated the groups.

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