Helping, Hurting, and Cooperating - Cooperation

Question

Prisoner’s dilemma

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

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”

Answer 4

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