Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-t6hkb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T23:01:41.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Does being a Stranger make it Difficult to Cooperate?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2017

P. Sariñana-González ,
Á. Romero-Martínez  and
L. Moya-Albiol
P. Sariñana-González*
Affiliation:
Universitat de Valencia (Spain)
Á. Romero-Martínez
Affiliation:
Universitat de Valencia (Spain)
L. Moya-Albiol
Affiliation:
Universitat de Valencia (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Patricia Sariñana González. Departamento de Psicología, Universitat de Valencia. Avenida Blasco Ibáñez, 21. 46010. Valencia (Spain). Phone: +34–963864302. Fax: +34–963864668. E-mail: Patricia.Sarinana@uv.es
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Competition and cooperation are two somewhat opposed strategies for interpersonal social interaction that help us to achieve both individual and shared goals. The main aim of this study was to explore which type of social interaction (cooperative or competitive) is more stressful in a face-to-face same-sex dyad in healthy young participants (n = 178), considering outcome obtained in these tasks (positive or negative) and sex as moderating variables, and performance of the task alone as a control condition. Salivary cortisol (Csal) was measured in one sample obtained before task and four obtained after the task (+0, +15, +30 and +45 minutes after). Anxiety-state was assessed before and immediately after the task. Participants who cooperated and obtained negative outcomes had higher Csal levels than those who worked alone with negative outcomes in all periods after the task (p = .008, η p 2 = .058 and p = .033, η p 2 = .031, respectively). Moreover, those who cooperated showed higher mean self-reported state anxiety levels than the rest of the participants (p = .013, η p 2 = .051 and p < .001, η p 2 = .530, respectively). Our study indicates that cooperation between strangers in face-to-face dyads is highly stressful, more so than competing or working alone. These results should be taken into account for understanding situations of social stress and can be generalized to situations in which subjects cooperate or must decide between cooperating and competing to attain a goal.

Keywords

anxietycompetitioncooperationcortisolsocial interaction
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 20 , 2017 , E35
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

References

Aardal, E., & Holm, A. C. (1995). Cortisol in saliva - reference ranges and relation to cortisol in serum. Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, 33, 927–932.Google Scholar
Balliet, D., Wu, J., & De Dreu, C. K. (2014). Ingroup favoritism in cooperation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 140, 1556–1581. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037737 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bollini, A. M., Walker, E. F., Hamann, S., & Kestler, L. (2004). The influence of perceived control and locus of control on the cortisol and subjective responses to stress. Biological Psychology, 67, 245–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2003.11.002 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bolton, G. E., Katok, E., & Ockenfels, A. (2005). Cooperation among strangers with limited information about reputation. Journal of Public Economics, 89, 1457–1468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2004.03.008 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burton-Chellew, M. N., & West, S. A. (2012). Correlates of cooperation in a one-shot high-stakes televised prisoners’ dilemma. PloS One, 7, e33344. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033344 Google Scholar
Cesarini, D., Dawes, C. T., Fowler, J. H., Johannesson, M., Lichtenstein, P., & Wallace, B. (2008). Heritability of cooperative behavior in the trust game. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105, 3721–3726. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0710069105 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, R., & Salvador, A. (2012). Associations between success and failure in a face-to-face competition and psychobiological parameters in young women. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 37, 1780–1790. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.03.012 Google Scholar
Costa, R., Serrano, M. A., & Salvador, A. (2016). Importance of self-efficacy in psychoendocrine responses to competition and performance in women. Psicothema, 28(1), 66–70. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2015.166 Google Scholar
De Andrés-García, S., Gonzalez-Bono, E., Sariñana-González, P., Sanchis-Calatayud, M. V., Romero-Martínez, A., & Moya-Albiol, L. (2011). Internal attribution of outcome moderates the cortisol response to a cooperative task in women [La valoración del resultado modula la respuesta del cortisol a una tarea cooperativa de laboratorio en mujeres]. Psicothema, 23, 196–202.Google Scholar
De Dreu, C. K. W. (2012). Oxytocin modulates cooperation within and competition between groups: An integrative review and research agenda. Hormones & Behavior, 61, 419–428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2011.12.009 Google Scholar
Denson, T. F., Spanovic, M., & Miller, N. (2009). Cognitive appraisals and emotions predict cortisol and immune responses: A meta-analysis of acute laboratory social stressors and emotion inductions. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 823–853. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016909 Google Scholar
Dickerson, S. S., & Kemeny, M. E. (2004). Acute stressors and cortisol responses: A theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 355–391. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.130.3.355 Google Scholar
Eisenegger, C., Haushofer, J., & Fehr, E. (2011). The role of testosterone in social interaction. Trends in Cognitive Science, 15, 263–271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2011.04.008 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gómez-Amor, J., Martínez-Selva, J. M., Román, F., & Zamora, S. (1990). Electrodermal activity in menstrual cycle phases: A comparison of within-and between-subjects designs. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 9(1), 39–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-8760(90)90006-Y Google Scholar
Gómez-Amor, J., Martínez-Selva, J. M., Román, F., Zamora, S., & Sastre, J. F. (1990). Electrodermal activity, hormonal levels and subjective experience during the menstrual cycle. Biological Psychology, 30, 125–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/0301-0511(90)90022-O Google Scholar
Hasegawa, M., Toda, M., & Morimoto, K. (2008). Changes in salivary physiological stress markers associated with winning and losing. Biomedical Research, 29(1), 43–46. https://doi.org/10.2220/biomedres.29.43 Google Scholar
Kappeler, P. M., & Van Schaik, C. P. (2006). Cooperation in primates and humans. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-28277-7 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirschbaum, C., & Hellhammer, D. H. (1994). Salivary cortisol in psychoneuroendocrine research: Recent developments and applications. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 19, 313–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-4530(94)90013-2 Google Scholar
Liening, S. H., & Josephs, R. A. (2010). It is not just about testosterone: Physiological mediators and moderators of testosterone’s behavioral effects. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4, 982–994. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00316.x Google Scholar
Mateo, J. M. (2004). Recognition systems and biological organization: The perception component of social recognition. Annales Zoologici Fennici, 41, 729–745.Google Scholar
Mazur, A. (1985). A biosocial model of status in face-to-face primate groups. Social Forces, 64, 377–402. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/64.2.377 Google Scholar
Melis, A. P., & Semmann, D. (2010). How is human cooperation different? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 365, 2663–2674. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0157 Google Scholar
Moya-Albiol, L., de Andrés-García, S., Sanchis-Calatayud, M. V., Sariñana-González, P., Ruiz-Robledillo, N., Romero-Martínez, A., & González-Bono, E. (2013). Psychophysiological responses to cooperation: The role of outcome and gender. International Journal of Psychology, 48, 542–550. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2012.666552 Google Scholar
Oxford, J., Ponzi, D., & Geary, D. C. (2010). Hormonal responses differ when playing violent video games against an in-group and outgroup. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 201–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.07.002 Google Scholar
Pruessner, J. C., Kirschbaum, C., Meinlschmid, G., & Hellhammer, D. H. (2003). Two formulas for computation of the area under the curve represent measures of total hormone concentration versus time-dependent change. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 28, 916–931. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4530(02)00108-7 Google Scholar
Reimers, L., & Diekhof, E. K. (2015). Testosterone is associated with cooperation during intergroup competition by enhancing parochial altruism. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 9, 183. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2015.00183 Google Scholar
Romero-Martínez, Á., & Moya-Albiol, L. (2016). The use of testosterone/cortisol ratio in response to acute stress as an indicator of propensity to anger in informal caregivers. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 19, e48. https://doi.org/10.1017/sjp.2016.62 Google Scholar
Romero-Martínez, A., González-Bono, E., Lila, M., & Moya-Albiol, L. (2013). Testosterone/cortisol ratio in response to acute stress: A possible marker of risk for marital violence. Social Neuroscience, 8, 240–247. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2013.772072 Google Scholar
Salvador, A., & Costa, R. (2009). Coping with competition: Neuroendocrine responses and cognitive variables. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 33, 160–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.09.005 Google Scholar
Sariñana-González, P., Romero-Martínez, Á., & Moya-Albiol, L. (2016). Cooperation induces an increase in emotional response, as measured by electrodermal activity and mood. Current Psychology, 35, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9426-2 Google Scholar
Smeets-Janssen, M. M. J., Roelofs, K., van Pelt, J., Spinhoven, P., Zitman, F. G., Penninx, B. W. J. F., & Giltay, E. J. (2015). Salivary testosterone is consistently and positively associated with extraversion: Results from The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. Neuropsychobiology, 71, 76–84. https://doi.org/10.1159/000369024 Google Scholar
Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., Lushene, R., Vagg, P. R., & Jacobs, G. A. (1983). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Seisdedos, N. (1982). STAI: Inventario de Ansiedad Estado-Rasgo [State-Trait Anxiety Inventory]. Madrid, Spain: TEA Ediciones.Google Scholar
van Honk, J., Montoya, E. R., Bos, P. A., van Vugt, M., & Terburg, D. (2012). New evidence on testosterone and cooperation. Nature, 485, e4–e5. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11136 Google Scholar
Velez, J. A., Mahood, C., Ewoldsen, D. R., & Moyer-Gusé, E. (2014). Ingroup versus outgroup conflict in the context of violent video game play: The effect of cooperation on increased helping and decreased aggression. Communication Research, 41, 607–626. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650212456202 Google Scholar
Wirth, M. M., Welsh, K. M., & Schultheiss, O. C. (2006). Salivary cortisol changes in humans after winning or losing a dominance contest depend on implicit power motivation. Hormones and Behavior, 49, 346–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2005.08.013 Google Scholar
Zilioli, S., & Watson, N. V. (2013). Winning isn’t everything: Mood and testosterone regulate the cortisol response in competition. PLoS One, 8(1), e52582. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0052582 Google Scholar