Helping, Hurting, and Cooperating - Cooperation

4 important questions on Helping, Hurting, and Cooperating - Cooperation

Prisoner’s dilemma

Situation where outcome between two individuals depends upon each individuals’ independent choice to cooperate or not 

Classic story of two prisoners who have to choose between sticking to their story or betraying their partner, without knowing what their partner will do 

If they both cooperate, both win. If they both defect, both lose. But if one defects when the other cooperates, one wins big and the other loses big 

Social and Cognitive Determinants of Cooperation 

The most important determinant of whether people will cooperate are their construals about the people they’re interacting with

Social Determinants of Cooperation

Evidence from prisoner’s dilemma games:

People who are more competitive are more likely to assume that others are competitive 

People become more competitive after being primed with words related to hostility 

Greater competition when the prisoner’s dilemma was played in business context (for example, Wall Street) than when played as a “community game”

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Tit-for-tat strategy

A strategy in which the individual's first move is cooperative and thereafter the individual mimics the other person's behavior, whether cooperative or competitive.

Start by cooperating, and from that point on 

do whatever the other person did last 

>If the other person cooperates, then the cycle of cooperation continues and both benefit 

>If the other person defects, then you continue to defect until the other person begins cooperating 

This simple strategy is optimal because it encourages the benefits of cooperation, but doesn’t allow for exploitation

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