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Does being a Stranger make it Difficult to Cooperate?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2017

P. Sariñana-González ,
Á. Romero-Martínez  and
L. Moya-Albiol
P. Sariñana-González*
Affiliation:
Universitat de Valencia (Spain)
Á. Romero-Martínez
Affiliation:
Universitat de Valencia (Spain)
L. Moya-Albiol
Affiliation:
Universitat de Valencia (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Patricia Sariñana González. Departamento de Psicología, Universitat de Valencia. Avenida Blasco Ibáñez, 21. 46010. Valencia (Spain). Phone: +34–963864302. Fax: +34–963864668. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Competition and cooperation are two somewhat opposed strategies for interpersonal social interaction that help us to achieve both individual and shared goals. The main aim of this study was to explore which type of social interaction (cooperative or competitive) is more stressful in a face-to-face same-sex dyad in healthy young participants (n = 178), considering outcome obtained in these tasks (positive or negative) and sex as moderating variables, and performance of the task alone as a control condition. Salivary cortisol (Csal) was measured in one sample obtained before task and four obtained after the task (+0, +15, +30 and +45 minutes after). Anxiety-state was assessed before and immediately after the task. Participants who cooperated and obtained negative outcomes had higher Csal levels than those who worked alone with negative outcomes in all periods after the task (p = .008, η p 2 = .058 and p = .033, η p 2 = .031, respectively). Moreover, those who cooperated showed higher mean self-reported state anxiety levels than the rest of the participants (p = .013, η p 2 = .051 and p < .001, η p 2 = .530, respectively). Our study indicates that cooperation between strangers in face-to-face dyads is highly stressful, more so than competing or working alone. These results should be taken into account for understanding situations of social stress and can be generalized to situations in which subjects cooperate or must decide between cooperating and competing to attain a goal.

Keywords

anxietycompetitioncooperationcortisolsocial interaction
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 20 , 2017 , E35
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2017 

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Footnotes

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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