THE INFLUENCE OF OPEN AND CLOSED BELIEF SYSTEMS ON COOPERATION IN THE PRISONER'S DILEMMA*
In: Decision sciences, Band 5, Heft 2, S. 255-262
ISSN: 1540-5915
ABSTRACTThe Rokeach Dogmatism Scale was employed to identify subjects possessing either open or closed belief systems. Forty‐eight subjects were randomly selected and assigned to eight open‐open, eight open‐closed, and eight closed‐closed pairs. The dyads then played a modified version of the Prisoner's Dilemma where they were also permitted to communicate using a predetermined list of messages. It was found that the eight open‐open pairs cooperated significantly more than the other pairs in the experiment. However, results also suggest that individuals possessing open belief systems may not be able to achieve significantly greater cooperation with individuals possessing a closed belief system than two individuals both possessing closed belief systems.