Asymmetry of Payoff Structure and Cooperative Behavior in the Prisoner's Dilemma Game

This study compares the effect of a standard symmetric Prisoner's Dilemma game and an asymmetric Prisoner's Dilemma game on choice behavior. The two types of Prisoner's Dilemma games were crossed with two sets of payoff matrices, thus generating four experimental conditions. It was predicted that subjects in the asymmetric game condition would manifest less cooperative behavior than subjects in the symmetric game condition. This effect would be due primarily to the significantly lower amount of cooperation for subjects assigned to the low potential reward position. The predicted outcomes were supported. It was concluded that concern with relative outcomes, and in particular concern with being surpassed by other, rather than maximization of own outcomes was the primary motivating factor underlying this finding.