COOPERATIVE AND COMPETITIVE BEHAVIORS IN 7-8 YEARS OLD FRIENDSHIP AND STRANGER DYADS

Abstract

Past research generally shows that friends cooperate better and focus more on equity than strangers on various tasks. This present study examines cooperative and competitive behavior between friends and strangers as measured by their reactions to two payoff conditions, the Reciprocal Altruism (RA)(individual reward) and Simultaneous Cooperation (SCO) (pair reward) conditions in a Marble-pull game. The subjects were 60 pairs of 7-8 year-old males and females. In the RA, while friends cooperated and strangers competed, both moved towards equality in reward distributions. For SCO, friends and strangers did not differ in cooperative and competitive behavior, but friends were more equal in marble-positioning than strangers. Explanations based on socio psychological processes between friends and strangers, contextual as well as sociobiological viewpoints were used to account for the findings.