Welcome. This study involves a group experiment where you will be asked to make decisions with other real participants. Today, we will ask you to pick a time that works for you for this study and then fill out a demographic survey. If you are selected to participate, we will invite you to participate in the group experiment.

Note, the survey data is part of the group study. In order for us to retain your survey data anonymously, you must use the same browser for the survey and group experiment and not delete our cookies.

Do you agree to sign up for a time, use the same browser with cookies, and participate in the full study?

Please select one time in which you are available to participate in the group experiment. We will provide you with a qualification for this time and release HITs.

Please answer the following questions.

  1. What is your political orientation?

  2. Do you believe in God?

  3. What is your religious affiliation?

  4. Have you ever taken illegal drugs?

  5. What is your approximate yearly income?

  6. Generally speaking, would you describe yourself more as a "team player" or "lone wolf"?

  7. Generally speaking, which of these two statements best describes your personal attitude towards trust?

  8. What percentage of your monthly income did you give to charity last month?

  9. Have you ever deliberately flirted with someone while being in an exclusive romantic relationship with someone else?

  10. In the past five years, have you called in sick to work when you weren't actually sick?

Thank you for selecting a time to participate in the group experiment. We will send you a reminder via Prolific before the scheduled time. Please click the button below to get your completion code.

You do not qualify. Please return your submission.

Thank you for your interest. Unfortunately there were not enough participants for you. Click the button to get your completion code and receive your show up fee. We will also invite you to later sessions in case you still want to participate.

We were unable to find an intake survey. This can happen if you have changed browsers or deleted our cookies. Please click the button below and return your submission. Contact us to fix this issue at jason_radford@volunteerscience.com.

Sorry, too many participants have dropped to finish the study. Click the button to get your completion code and receive the $XXXX you've earned thus far.

Sorry, you did not make a choice and were disqualified from the study. Please submit any completion code. We will pay you the $XXXX you earned thus far.

Sorry, you arrived too late to participate. Please click the button below and return the submission. We will invite you to later sessions in case you still want to participate.

instructions timer
Round: round here
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whole round timer here
resuilts timer here

nnn/NNN players ready

Welcome. You will play several rounds of the "Prisoner's Dilemma" game. For every round of the game you'll be randomly paired with a new partner - meaning you will not play the same player twice. The pool of players you'll be paired with will vary in terms of their demographics (i.e. age, gender, religious beliefs, political orientation).

When you are ready, click below to see the game instructions.

The scenario you find yourself in is as follows. "You and your partner have been arrested for a robbery and are placed in separate isolation cells, and therefore unable to communicate with one another."

A clever prosecutor makes the following offer to each:

When you are ready, click below to see the game instructions.

Below you'll see the outcomes of your sentence depending on you and your partner's choice: confess or remain silent.

The strategy each of you choose to adopt will affect how much cash you both earn. For each game, the less prison time you serve, the bigger the bonus you'll earn.

Below is a breakdown of bonus earnings you will receive for a single round, depending on your choice:

Partner's Choice
Your Choice Partner remains silent Partner confesses
You remain silent Both you and your partner will each receive 1 year in prison.
You will receive $2.50		 You will receive 10 years in prison, and your partner will go free (0 years).
You will receive $0.25
You confess You will go free (0 years), and your partner will receive 10 years in prison.
You will receive $2.75
 Both you and your partner will each receive 5 years in prison.
You will receive $1.50

You will receive your bonus earnings on top of the base participation fee for this HIT.

You will now play 4 rounds of the Prisoner's Dilemma game. Each round you will be assigned to play live with a new partner that you have not previously played against.

To earn the maximum bonus, it would help if you could accurately predict which choice your partner was likely to make. But neither of you can communicate with the other, and therefore you cannot know whether they will choose to confess or remain silent. At the beginning of each round, though, before you and your partner make your Prisoner's Dilemma choice, you will see one another's answers to the 10 questions asked at the beginning of this study. After which, you will each decide whether you will confess or remain silent.

Once you've read through the instructions, click the button below to see what information you will be exchanging with your partner.

You will now play 4 rounds of the Prisoner's Dilemma game. Each round you will be assigned to play live with a new partner that you have not previously played against.

To earn the maximum bonus, it would help if you could accurately predict which choice your partner was likely to make. But neither of you can communicate with the other, and therefore you cannot know whether they will choose to confess or remain silent. For each round you and your partner will each have to independently decide whether you will confess or remain silent

Once you've read through the instructions, click the button below to start playing the game.

You will now play 4 rounds of the Prisoner's Dilemma game. Each round you will be assigned to play live with a new partner that you have not previously played against.

To earn the maximum bonus, it would help if you could accurately predict which choice your partner was likely to make. But neither of you can communicate with the other, and therefore you cannot know whether they will choose to confess or remain silent. Before players make their Prisoner's Dilemma choice, though, you will each select which information (i.e. the answers to the 10 questions asked at the beginning of this study) you want to be shared between you and your partner. Once you have viewed one another's information, you will each decide whether you will confess or remain silent.

Importantly, there is a symmetric information-sharing feature to this game: Any question response you see about your partner, they will also get that information about you, too. Therefore, only question responses that have been selected by both players will be displayed. Question responses selected by just one of the players will not be displayed.

Once you've read through the instructions, click the button below to choose which information you would like to exchange.

Remember that you and your partner will see each other's responses to the following information categories:

Remember that you cannot see information categories about others that you do not display about yourself.

With this in mind, which information categories would you select to have exchanged with your partner? Please click on the boxes below to make your selection. You must make a selection to participate.

Your data here

You are playing with Player #XXXX

You'll be able to start the game in a few seconds

Here are their answers to all 10 questions you also answered at the beginning of the study. Remember that Player #XXXX has received your responses as well.

Here are their answers to the questions you both agreed to exchange. Remember that Player #XXXX has received your responses as well.

Partner's Choice
Your Choice Partner remains silent Partner confesses
You remain silent Both you and your partner will each receive 1 year in prison.
You will receive $2.50		 You will receive 10 years in prison, and your partner will go free (0 years).
You will receive $0.25
You confess You will go free (0 years), and your partner will receive 10 years in prison.
You will receive $2.75
 Both you and your partner will each receive 5 years in prison.
You will receive $1.50
Other data here

Waiting for other players...

Okay, now you will now be paired with a real player.

Now you will play another round with a different player

Waiting for your partner to make their decision...

We were unable to match you with another player for this round. Please wait for a few moments, and we'll try to match you in the next round.

Sorry, it looks like Player #XXXX did not respond and is no longer available to participate. Please wait for a few moments while we match you with another player in the next round

You earned a total of $XXXX. Thanks for playing. We have a few more questions for you about your experience. You must answer all questions before proceeding.

On a scale from 1, "Not at all", to 7, "Very much", how much did you enjoy the game?

Not at all Very Much

On a scale from 1, "Not at all", to 7, "Very much", overall, how much did you trust your partners?

Not at all Very Much

What is your gender?

In what year were you born?

Before the last set of questions, we wanted to fill you in on a few more details of the study.

In this study, participants were randomly assigned to play one of three versions of the Prisoner's Dilemma game. The format was the same in each version - the same number of rounds, the same game scenario, and the same game rewards. The only difference between the three versions was how much information players saw about their partner before they played the Prisoner's Dilemma game:

Version A: Neither player received any information about their partner before playing the Prisoner's Dilemma game.

Version B: Both players saw all of their partner's answers to the 10 questions asked at the beginning of the study before then making their Prisoner's Dilemma choice.

Version C: Before playing the 3 rounds of the Prisoner's Dilemma game, all players were told to select which questions responses they wanted displayed about them and their upcoming four partners. This was to enable a symmetric information-sharing feature in this version of the game. Only question responses that have been selected by both players were displayed. Those question responses selected by just one of the players, or selected by neither, were not displayed.

Overall, which version of the game do you think had the greatest amount of cooperation (i.e. most number of 'remain silent' choices) within it?

If you were to play the game again, which version of the game would you prefer to participate in?

Why would you want to participate in this version of the game?

What factors influenced your decision to remain silent or confess?

Do you have any other comments about the study?

The study is complete. Please enter the following completion code: .

Once you've entered your code, press the button below to end the study.