Communication increases cooperation among students in a coordination game

Abstract

Cooperation often requires individuals to balance personal risk with mutual gain. The Stag Hunt game provides a well-established paradigm for studying such decision-making. Prior research suggested that verbal communication about the game correlated with participants finding the optimal coordinated solution, but these studies either did not manipulate communication directly or informed participants of the payoff structure in advance. This study examined whether communication improves cooperative decision-making among college students under conditions in which the payoff structure had to be inferred through repeated play. A total of 127 same-sex dyads (Mage = 22.8 y, 51.2% female) played 40 rounds of an online Stag Hunt game, with dyads randomly assigned to either a no communication or communication condition. Participants were not informed about the game’s payoff structure in advance and had to infer it during play. Results showed that coordination on the payoff-dominant outcome (Stag–Stag) increased across trials, but only when communication was possible. No significant sex differences were observed. These findings highlight the central role of communication in fostering cooperation, particularly in environments in which information must be jointly discovered. This is an important consideration for developing and interpreting future research. Moreover, subsequent research should explore how the content, timing, and relevance of communication shape cooperative outcomes over time.