Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

MRI Study Shows We're Wired to Cooperate

Posted by michael on from the game-of-life dept.

ibi writes "The NYT reports that humans apparently have an inborne bias towards cooperation. People who cooperated during standard Prisoner's Dilemma tests registered high levels of activity in the pleasure centers of their brains. This result was the opposite of what the researchers were expecting. (But I bet they were testing students rather than their advisers :-)"

3 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. No, really, it just feels good! by TheGreatGraySkwid · · Score: 1, Funny

    Next up in the MRI testing queue:

    Slashdotters posting intelligent, informative replies vs. Trolls.

    'splain that one...

    --
    The Humblest Mollusk on the Net
  2. Try doing the same study with by dh003i · · Score: 4, Funny

    Try doing the same study with lawyers, executives, and politicians. Lets see, put

    Bill Gates
    Steve Jobs
    Hillary Rosen
    Jack Valentini
    Fritz Hollings
    Whaley (from Enron)
    Johny Cochraine
    Gary Wennig (from Global Crossings)

    in a room together. See if they all manage to cooperate.

    --
    social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
  3. A funny story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    In college, we were doing a bit of prisoner's dilemma/game theory in micro-economics. A friend of mine in the class had heard we would be playing a game in class based on this, and that which ever person had the highest point total at the end would win girl scout cookies.

    Well, with that on the line, we set to work. Each time, I would pick cooperate, and he'd choose to screw me over. It was really no surprise that at that point he was in the lead in the class. After this was done, there was a second round using the entire class (and a majority to decide which way things would go), and through a few smart decisions, he cinched it and won the cookies.

    As we were leaving class, a couple said to me (noting my poor performance earlier) "Wow, you're really not very good at that are you?" So, I pulled out my half of the girl scout cookies and laughed and said "I think I did alright."