The Cooperation Study will test a novel way to encourage elementary school children to cooperate, reduce bullying and other antisocial behavior, and generally improve the social dynamic among elementary school children.
The goal of this study is to design an environment that creates a game theory model where defection is strongly punished and cooperation is strongly rewarded. A class of elementary school children will be immersed in this environment regularly for two weeks and their teacher will act as a monitor to observe whether their social relationships following the exposure to the game are more cooperative than they were previously. The goal of the game is to encourage cooperation. The desired result is a qualitatively noticeable improvement in social interactions among the target group, particularly a decrease in bullying. The game is less about modeling any realistic phenomena than eliminating the benefits of defection—if the most famous game of game theory is known as the Prisoner’s Dilemma, this would more aptly be called the Players’ Clear Choice.
The subjects of the study will be the students of a fifth grade class at an elementary school. The study will take place on 10 consecutive weekday afternoons, following the end of the school day, on school premises. The students will be monitored primarily by their regular teacher. The teacher, who knows the students well, will be able to observe whether the study has been affected by comparing the ex ante social dynamic among students with the situation after the game is completed.
The participating class and school will be chosen by the author of the study based on applications. All schools are invited to apply, and the teacher with the most compelling qualifications will be selected to participate. All students in the class may participate with parental permission.
The funding for the study has not yet been secured. The author of the study is seeking institutional support from non-profit organizations, but individual donations are welcome. Total cost of the project is projected to be $11,000. Click here for the projected itemized expenses.
If you are a donor interested in helping to fund the study, or a teacher or school administrator interested in implementing this plan, please contact us.
