The variability of conditional cooperation in sequential prisoner's dilemmas

Arbeitspapier

We examine how conditional cooperation is related to the material payoffs in a Sequential Prisoner's Dilemma experiment. We have subjects play eight SPDs with varying payoffs, systematically varying the material gain to the second-mover and the material loss to the first-mover when the second-mover defects in response to cooperation. We find that few second-movers are conditionally cooperative in all eight games, and most second-movers change their strategies from game to game. Second-movers are less likely to conditionally cooperate when the gain is higher and when the loss is lower. This pattern is consistent with models of distributional preferences.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CeDEx Discussion Paper Series ; No. 2022-10

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Relation of Economics to Social Values ; Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual
• Subject: prisoner's dilemma ; conditional cooperation

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Gächter, Simon ; Lee, Kyeongtae ; Sefton, Martin
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The University of Nottingham, Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics (CeDEx)
• (where): Nottingham
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/261248
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET