The Hard and the Soft in Interdependence: Locating Game Behavior in Semantic Space

Abstract

A (non-zero-sum) chicken game served as base for exploring the semantic nature of social interdependence. Behavioral subgroups of cooperators vs competitors, and of preemptors vs victims rated impressions of Self, Other, and Experimenter on a standardized semantic differential (Ertel). Results supported (1) the basic stability and generality of the instrument when applied to social interaction phenomena, (2) its grasp of patterns of interdependence projected into semantic space, (3) the theoretical usefulness of the concept of an “affective reaction system” (Osgood) that also operates in social interdependence, transcending the rational premises of classical game theory, and (4) the methodological usefulness of extending the rating procedure to the experimenter in further illuminating the social psychology of laboratory experimentation.