Extraversion, neuroticism, and the prisoner's dilemma

The prisoner's dilemma has been used to Study self-interest and cooperation in a variety of contexts. Applying an individual differences approach to this paradigm allows for the examination of dispositional factors that predict the likelihood of betraying one's game partner. An iterative prisoner's dilemma was administered to undergraduate students, along with measures of demographics, personality, and cognitive ability. Results demonstrate that higher scores on the withdrawal aspect of neuroticism and the enthusiasm aspect of extraversion independently predicted a greater likelihood of cooperation. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.