Induction of Cooperative Behavior Through Exchange of Nonverbal Information

Abstract

In this study, the process of inducing mutual cooperation among workers in a remote work environment (telework) was experimentally examined. The gambling task developed by Payne was used, and subjects were not given information regarding their partners’ reputations. In addition, subjects and their partners completed the task in different rooms to avoid the effects of verbal and nonverbal communication. Subjects knew only which buttons their partners pushed, i.e., their behavior in the remote work environment. The number of experimental trials was 100. We found that cooperative behavior was induced by the 33rd trial. Although subjects did not know their partners’ reputations, cooperative behavior arose as subjects saw which buttons their partners pushed. In a control experiment, the subjects competed with a computer, and the results suggested that cooperative behavior was not induced when a human subject competed with a computer. Overall, the results suggest that an exchange of nonverbal behavioral information was necessary for inducing cooperative behavior.

Role of Assigned Persona for Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Remote Control Environment

“…The gambling task developed by Payne [1] was used, and cooperative behavior arose as subjects saw which buttons their partners pushed. Overall, the results suggest that an exchange of nonverbal behavioral information was necessary for inducing cooperative behavior [2].…”