Abstract
A mutual fate control (MFC) situation is one in which two persons control the positive and negative outcomes of each other. Studies of the MFC and related situations indicated that the attainment of mutually positive outcomes is generally impeded when individuals are given explicit, trial-by-trial information about both their own and the other person’s outcomes. In these studies, the choosers’ responses were externally paced. In the present study, the choosers were permitted to respond at will. The results of the present study were consistent with those of the paced response studies. Showing individuals both their own and the other person’s outcomes resulted in significantly fewer positive outcomes than showing individuals only their own outcomes. These results suggest that the opportunity to make outcome comparisons led to the dyad members’ doing more poorly, in terms of the choosers’ own outcomes, than when individuals were experimentally prohibited from making such comparisons.
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This study was conducted at Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa, during the second author’s tenure there as Part-time Visiting Lecturer in Psychology. The help of David A. Bernstein, Acting Chairman of the Department of Psychology, Cornell College, in making space and Ss available, and the assistance of John Greenwood, in running the experiment, are gratefully acknowledged.
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Radinsky, T.L., Kanekar, S. The influence of interpersonal comparisons of outcomes under conditions of free responding. Psychon Sci 29, 201–202 (1972). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03332826
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03332826