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Cooperation in an Assortative Matching Prisoners Dilemma Experiment with Pro-Social Dummies
Chun-Lei Yang1, Ching-Syang Jack Yue2
1Economics Experimental Lab, Nanjing Audit University, 86 Yushanxi Road, Nanjing, 211815, China. ycl@nau.edu.cn.
Scientific Reports
|September 22, 2019
Summary
Assortative matching (AM) can foster cooperation. Adding pro-social role models to history-based matching significantly boosted cooperation in a Prisoner's Dilemma experiment.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Game Theory
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Assortative matching (AM) is theorized to enhance cooperation.
- The Prisoner's Dilemma game is a standard model for studying cooperation and defection.
- Understanding factors that promote cooperation is crucial for social and economic systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effectiveness of assortative matching in promoting cooperation.
- To examine the impact of pro-social role models on cooperation within an assortative matching framework.
- To compare cooperation levels under different matching conditions: random, weighted history, and weighted history with pro-social dummies.
Main Methods:
- A controlled laboratory experiment was conducted.
- Three treatments were implemented on a multi-round Prisoner's Dilemma game.
- Matching was based on weighted history (WH) as a proxy for AM, with variations including pro-social dummies.
Main Results:
- Adding pro-social dummies to the weighted history (WH) treatment significantly increased cooperation.
- Cooperation levels in the WH treatment with pro-social dummies surpassed those in both random matching and the standard WH treatment.
- This suggests that pro-social influences can amplify the cooperative effects of assortative matching.
Conclusions:
- Pro-social role models, akin to institutional promotion of virtue, can enhance cooperation in societies with effective assortative matching.
- These interventions can shift the system towards a more cooperative equilibrium.
- The findings have implications for designing institutions that foster cooperation through social influence and targeted matching mechanisms.
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