Abstract
In the first part of a two-part study, it was found that the amount of shock endured is grossly linear to the exchange value in cents and that clear distinctions are made between amounts of shock by 11 male and 11 female subjects drawn from sophomore college classes. In the second part a new sample of 40 male and 40 female Ss was introduced by like-sexed pairs to a 2-choice Prisoner’s Dilemma-type game with money and shock as payoff. Half of the pairs received money, then the shock payoff; half of the pairs received shock, then the money payoff. Contrary to expectation, no difference was observed between shock and money games when other factors were held constant. However, in contrast to games with money alone as payoff, the level of cooperative choice was rather high, and a significant sex effect emerged with male pairs being significantly more cooperative than female. The shock-then-money sequence provoked most clearly the sex difference. Other observations suggest that women are less tolerant of shock and, thus, provoked more into a competitive posture thereby than are men.
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This research was aided br a grant (M 3291-C2) from the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health.
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Bixenstine, V.E., O’Reilly, E.F. Money Versus Electric Shock as Payoff in a Prisoner’s Dilemma Game. Psychol Rec 16, 251–264 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03393666
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03393666