Cooperative behavior and choice

Abstract

Two experirnents using the alternative response procedure with 8 and 10 years old boys were conducted. The experiments required that the subjects produced an ordered sequence of binary numbers over alternate trials. Each subject choose on each trial bet­ween five kinds of social interchange: take task, give task, cooperation, independent in­dividual response, and competence. One cummulative point was displayed on a digital counter at the end of a task according to a reinforcement rule. When a diade showed pre­ference for a given fund of social interchange, the frequency of reinforcement for that social interchange was reduced. On the second experiment, access to the manipulandum associated with the preferred choice was restricted. The results showed that the subjects’ citoices followed a maximization strategy and a high social correspondence of Meir ac­tions in botit experiments. Tite advantages of the experimental analysis of social inter­change as choice behavior  for current models of social behavior are discussed.