COALITION PREFERENCE AS A FUNCTION OF EXPECTED VALUES IN A TETRADIC WEIGHTED-MAJORITY GAME

Eighty male subjects participated in a tetradic weighted-majority game in which a coalition was required to control the division of the payo ff. The amount of the payoff and/or the probability of receiving the p ayoff were varied. The data strongly supported the hypothesis that sub jects would prefer the coalition with the largest expected value (size of payoff x probability of success = expected value) rather than the coalition with the largest payoff or the coalition with the highest pr obability of success. However, contrary to expectations, the division of rewards was found to be a function of the relative assigned resourc es of the coalition members, despite the lack of a logical connection between the assigned resources and the rules governing obtaining the p ayoff.