Cooperation and Challenge in Four Cultures

Abstract
The cooperative and competitive behavior of children from four cultures was compared in an experimental situation in which the complexity and risk involved in the cooperative solution was varied. Ss were 56 boys and girls aged seven to nine from each of four cultural settings: United States, West Germany, Israel kibbutz, and Israel city. Israeli kibbutz children were significantly less competitive than each of the other three groups. Kibbutz and German children cooperated significantly more often than did American and Israeli city children when the cooperative solution was complex as opposed to simple.