Competitive Game Play Attenuates Self-Other Integration during Joint Task Performance

Abstract

Joint task performance is facilitated by sharing and integrating each other’s action representations. Research has shown that the amount of this so-called self-other integration depends on situational aspects related to the social context, including differences in the social relationship between co-acting individuals. There are indications that a cooperative relationship facilitates self-other integration while a competitive relationship results in more individualistic task performance. However, findings from previous studies in which the cooperative or competitive element was manipulated during task performance are inconsistent. Therefore, the present study aimed to manipulate the social relationship between two individuals prior to performing a social Simon task. This task is frequently used to measure self-other integration and distinction processes. A mixed-within-and-between-subjects design was used in which three groups of participants performed both a standard Simon task and a social Simon task after having played a Tetris game either individually, in cooperation with a co-actor, or in competition against another participant. Performance on the standard Simon task was not affected by the Tetris manipulation. However, a sustained effect of the induced cooperative versus competitive relationship was found on the social Simon Task. Less self-other integration was found in participants who had first played a competitive Tetris game compared to participants who had played a cooperative or solo version of the game. The current study thus demonstrates that an established cooperative or competitive relationship is sufficient to modulate the degree of self-other integration on subsequent joint task performance. Importantly, by using Tetris, attention to others’ actions was beneficial both during cooperative and competitive game play and can thus not explain the competition-induced reduction of self-other integration.

Relationship Closeness and Joint Action Coordination

“…First, to test the effect of closeness on integration of self-and other-generated action-effects, researchers may benefit from simply examining the difference in joint Simon effects between dyads assigned to either a closeness-generating condition of a SSDT or a control condition. As in previous research (Colzato et al, 2012;Hommel et al, 2007;Ruissen & de Bruijn, 2016), greater joint Simon effects would imply greater self-other integration. Second, to examine the relationship of cooperative performance and compatibility effects, one could use a more controlled version of the dot-control task as previously discussed or, alternatively, use a task more like Knoblich and Jordan's (2003) stimulus-control task.…”

“…Previous research has shown that interpersonal coordination is constrained by various interpersonal factors (Colzato et al, 2012;Hommel et al, 2007;Ruissen & de Bruijn, 2016).…”

“…Similarly, Colzato, de Bruijn, and Hommel (2012) demonstrated that the size of the joint Simon effect is modulated by self-construal: dyads who were primed with interdependent words (e.g., "we" and "ours") exhibited greater joint Simon effects than dyads who were primed with independent words (e.g., "I" and "mine"). Finally, Ruissen and de Bruijn (2016) showed that dyads who had previously engaged in a cooperative task exhibited greater joint Simon effects than dyads who had previously engaged in a competitive task.…”

Corrigendum: Social Cognition 2.0: Toward Mechanistic Theorizing

“…Schematic representation of standard Simon task (A) and joint Simon tasks (B). The figure was originally created by(Ruissen and de Bruijn, 2016). The correct legend appears below.…”

“…Schematic representation of standard Simon task (A) and joint Simon tasks (B) (Ruissen and de Bruijn, 2016)…”