Are smarter groups more cooperative? Evidence from prisoner's dilemma experiments, 1959-2003

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Year: 2008
Volume: 68
Issue: 3-4
Pages: 489-497

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Are more intelligent groups better at cooperating? A meta-study of repeated prisoner's dilemma experiments run at numerous universities suggests that students cooperate 5-8% more often for every 100-point increase in the school's average SAT score. This result survives a variety of robustness tests. Axelrod [Axelrod, R., 1984. The Evolution of Cooperation. Basic Books, New York] recommends that the way to create cooperation is to encourage players to be patient and perceptive; experimental evidence suggests that more intelligent groups implicitly follow this advice.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jeborg:v:68:y:2008:i:3-4:p:489-497
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25