COOPERATION AND COMPETITION - CONTRIBUTIONS TO AN EVOLUTIONARY AND DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL

Combining co-operation with other behaviours is hypothesised as a succ essful strategy for competing for resources. Studies were conducted wi th 4- to 8-year-olds from India, Malaysia, South Africa, and the Unite d States. Four children were given the opportunity to view a cartoon ( the resource), providing two children helped make the cartoon availabl e to a third child for viewing, thereby relegating the fourth child to a bystanding position. The children quickly learned to co-operate, ho wever, viewing times varied significantly between them, suggesting tha t they were competing against each other even while co-operating. The inequitable outcomes appear due to individual differences in the abili ty to combine helping others with more competitive behaviours. Childre n from different cultures were very similar in their behaviour as well as in their production of inequitable outcomes. These findings sugges t the presence of a culturally independent strategy that could be view ed as evolutionarily stable.