Effects of a Simulation Game upon Tolerance for Ambiguity, Dogmatism, and Risk Taking

Abstract

Summary Eighty-four male and female undergraduate educational psychology students comprising three intact classes participated in an investigation of the effect of the BaFa BaFa cross-cultural simulation game. One randomly selected class served as the control, the other two as the experimental groups. Pre, post, and across group comparisons were made on tolerance for ambiguity, dogmatism, and risk-taking preferences. Significant increases in tolerance for ambiguity and significant decreases in dogmatism were noted in the experimental groups. No significant changes were observed in experimental group risk-taking preferences. Across group comparisons revealed that there were no differences between the experimental and control groups prior to the simulation, but after the simulation the experimental group had significantly higher tolerance for ambiguity scores and significantly lower dogmatism scores than the control group. No significant differences were observed between groups on the risk-taking measure.