Evolution & Human Behavior
Volume 29, Issue 1 , Pages 42-48, January 2008

Does group size matter? Cheating and cooperation in Brazilian school children☆

  • Anuska Irene Alencar

      Affiliations

    • Department of Physiology, Psychobiology Graduate Program, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil
    • ,
  • José de Oliveira Siqueira

      Affiliations

    • Department of Business, School of Economics, Business and Accountancy, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
    • ,
  • Maria Emilia Yamamoto

      Affiliations

    • Department of Physiology, Psychobiology Graduate Program, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Caixa Postal 1511, 59078-970, Natal, RN, Brazil.

Received 2 May 2007; received in revised form 20 September 2007

Abstract 

Cooperation between individuals is an important requisite for the maintenance of social relationships. The purpose of this study was to investigate cooperation in children in the school environment, where individuals could cooperate or not with their classmates in a public goods game. We investigated which of the following variables influenced cooperation in children: sex, group size, and information on the number of sessions. Group size was the only factor to significantly affect cooperation, with small-group children cooperating significantly more than those in large groups. Both sex and information had no effect on cooperation. We suggest that these results reflect the fact that, in small groups, individuals were more efficient in controlling and retaliating theirs peers than in large groups.

Keywords: Free-riding, Cooperation, Children, Public goods

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☆ This project was supported by CNPq (#524409/96 to M.E.Y.) and FAPERN (#01.0009-00/2002) grants.

PII: S1090-5138(07)00089-X

doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.09.001

Evolution & Human Behavior
Volume 29, Issue 1 , Pages 42-48, January 2008

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