The effects of conflict intensity and promisor credibility on a target’s behavior

Abstract

Noncontingent promises of varying credibility were made to Ss in conditions of high and low conflict intensity established by manipulating the payoff values in the Prisoner’s Dilemma Game (PDG) payoff matrix. Highly credible promises produced more cooperation on the message trials than did low credibility promises. Ss concealed their choice intentions more when credibility was low. Greater overall cooperation, trust, and repentence were displayed when the conflict intensity was low. Conflict intensity interacted with credibility on the proportion of forgiveness shown. Females were more repentent than males when promise conditions were compared to controls. © 1969, Psychonomic Journals, Inc., Vol. 14 (2). All rights reserved.