Escalation - De-escalation: And Balance of Power

This experiment was an extension of the SMH, and Vincent-Tindell games. The major purpose was to investigate the effects of two different
ratios of shock on escalation-de-escalation ancl other aspects of aggressive-cooperative behavior. In one condition (inequality) one player
began game play with 6 shocks, the other player began with 18 shocks. In
the other condition (equality) both players began game play with 13 shocks
apiece. Players were allowed to purchase additional shocks or surrender
any number of shocks. Forty-nine game play variables were generated, representing indices of aggressive or cooperative behavior. The relationships of these variables to additional independent variables such as game plan, grade point average, and attitudinal scores were also examined. The findings of this experiment indicate that the balanced (equality)
conditions tend to generate more purchasing behavior and a higher overall
level of aggression. The unbalanced (inequality) condition however,
generated more extreme forms of behavior. Those with 18 shocks were generally more aggressive than all other players, and those with 6 shocks (inequality) were generally more cooperative than all other players. These findings conflicted with the results of the previous Tindell-Vincent game, but it seems that the addition of the purchasing option radically altered the effects of treatment condition. Sex was found to be a good predictor of game behavior. females were generally more cooperative and less active than males. Game plan and, to a lesser extent, attitude scores had predictive value for several responses, but grade point average, as expected, was a poor predictor of game behavior.