DEPENDENCE AND COOPERATION.

The dependence of either party in a two-party relationship is conceived as the value of the relationship relative to the value of alternative possibilities. It is predicted that increases in dependence by either or both parties will be associated with increased collaboration and decreased exploitation and disengagement. An experiment to test these predictions is described. Results show a strong inverse relationship between dependence and disengagement, as predicted. However, the collaboration-exploitation ratio does not appear to show collaboration increasing simply with dependence. It is suggested that the value of the relationship relative to one's expectation level (represented in this experiment especially by the comparative rewards of the two parties) may be more direct than dependence in determining collaborative tendency.