Effects of isolation and communication on cooperation in a two-person game.

Abstract

Four conditions of communication were created in a Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) game. In one condition the subjects were isolated so that they could neither sec nor hear each other, as in the typical PD experiment. In a second condition the subjects could sec but not hear each other. In a third condition the subjects could hear but not see each other. In a fourth the subjects could both hear and see each other. Results showed an increasing amount of cooperation through all four conditions, especially when the players could see each other. It was concluded that the high degree of competitiveness typically found in PD game studies may be largely a function of the isolation imposed on the subjects by the experimenter.