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Cognitive constraints on how economic rewards affect cooperation
Ellen E Furlong1, John E Opfer
1Departmentof Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. furlong.22@osu.edu
Psychological Science
|November 29, 2008
Summary
Cooperation in games like the prisoner's dilemma depends on how players perceive reward numbers, not just their economic value. Subjective numerical scaling, not face value, drives cooperation decisions.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Cognitive Psychology
- Game Theory
Background:
- Cooperation often fails to align with potential benefits.
- Prisoner's dilemma games illustrate this, with cooperation rates linked to economic incentives.
- Existing models focus on economic value differences, not subjective numerical perception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test if subjective numerical scaling, rather than economic value, influences cooperation in prisoner's dilemma games.
- To investigate the role of logarithmic scaling of mental magnitudes in economic decision-making.
- To determine how numerical versus economic value representations affect cooperation rates.
Main Methods:
- Experimental manipulation of reward values in prisoner's dilemma scenarios.
- Comparison of cooperation rates under varying numeric and economic reward structures.
- Statistical analysis to correlate subjective numerical scaling with cooperation levels.
Main Results:
- Increasing only the numeric value of rewards significantly increased cooperation (Study 1).
- Economic value increases only boosted cooperation if accompanied by numeric increases (Study 2).
- Logarithmically scaled reward values explained 97% of cooperation variation, while face value explained none.
Conclusions:
- Cooperation is constrained by the subjective representation of numeric value, not the objective economic worth.
- Mental magnitude scaling influences economic decision-making in social dilemmas.
- Understanding numerical perception is crucial for predicting and fostering cooperation.
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