Abstract

GONZALEZ NAVA, Marina F.  and  SANTOYO VELASCO, Carlos. Effects of the Probability of Partners' Cooperation on Consumption in Resource Dilemmas. Rev. mex. anál. conducta [online]. 2012, vol.38, n.2, pp.54-68. ISSN 0185-4534.

A social dilemma is a situation in which two or more individuals choose positive immediate outcomes, which result in negative long-term outcomes for the community, and therefore for the individual. In this kind of situation, the subjective value of the reward for being cooperative is affected by the probability of reciprocity from partners. The aim of this work was to determine the effect of the partners' probability of cooperation on resource consumption in a resource dilemma. The participants were 37 undergraduate students, who played computer games with the structure of a resource dilemma. Participants were divided into two groups, in which a fixed or a variable probability of simulated consumption was programmed. All the participants played three computer games in which the level of simulated cooperation was also varied. With variable probability of cooperation and in the presence of high levels of consumption, individual consumption increased. Individuals moderated their consumption in presence of moderated simulated consumptions and increased their consumptions with high simulated consumptions These results are discussed in terms of conditional cooperation.

Keywords : social dilemmas; resource dilemma; cooperation; conditional cooperation; reciprocity; cooperation probability.