TWIN CHILDREN WITH UNFAMILIAR PARTNERS - GENOTYPIC AND GENDER INFLUENCES ON COOPERATION

This study applied a social-genetic perspective to examine hypotheses concerning displays of cooperation. The sample included children from 14 monozygotic and 16 dizygotic twin pairs, organized into 30 unfamili ar partnerships. Two puzzle completion sessions were videotaped and ev aluated on five dimensions of cooperation. Repeated measures of analys is of variance indicated significantly higher ratings among female tha n male pairs on Overall Cooperation, Mutuality of Goal and Accommodati on. Contrary to expectation, social-interactional differences between unfamiliar MZ and DZ dyads were not detected. Findings are discussed w ith reference to new research perspectives on cooperative behavior. Co pyright (C) 1996 Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry.