Gender and cooperation in children: experiments in Colombia and Sweden

PLoS One. 2014 Mar 10;9(3):e90923. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090923. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

In this article we compare cooperation among Colombian and Swedish children aged 9-12. We illustrate the dynamics of the prisoner's dilemma in a new task that is easily understood by children and performed during a physical education class. We find no robust evidence of a difference in cooperation between Colombia and Sweden overall. However, Colombian girls cooperate less than Swedish girls. We also find indications that girls in Colombia are less cooperative than boys. Finally, there is also a tendency for children to be more cooperative with boys than with girls on average.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Colombia
  • Cooperative Behavior*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Sex Characteristics*
  • Sweden

Grants and funding

Financial support from the Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation [http://www.handelsbanken.se/shb/inet/IStartSv.nsf/FrameSetOpenView&id=Forskningsstiftelserna] and the Carl Silfvén Foundation [http://www.sasse.se/student/education/news/study-scholarships-fund-carl-silfv-n] (E.Ranehill.), the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS) [http://www.forte.se/en/], and the Department of Economics at the Universidad de Los Andes [http://economia.uniandes.edu.co/en] is gratefully acknowledged. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.