Magazine article from our research archive:

Where Nice Is Naughty

In most parts of the world, strangers helping strangers is strange

With tea leaves still steeping in its harbor, Boston is the cradle of American independence. Yet the students wending through its cobblestone streets are remarkably cooperative, finds a study in the March 7, 2008, issue of Science.

Put four Boston students-all strangers-in a game where they must distribute tokens among themselves using rules that reward both selfish and cooperative moves; allow them to punish each other by taking back tokens (albeit at a cost to themselves); and then watch the chips fall. The students not only penalize freeloaders-that is, players who don't give enough tokens to the group-but also respond to ...

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