PRISONER’S DILEMMA IN THE EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a game developed by game theory and establishes a conflict between individual and collective interests. The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze experiments that used the Prisoner`s Dilemma as a procedure, were based on Behavior Analysis, and were published in scientific journals. The procedure followed five steps: (1) Definition of keywords and selection of scientific indexing databases; (2) Search and selection of the articles on databases; (3) Search and selection of papers in specialized journals in behavior analysis; (4) Selection of references found in the articles; (5) Definition and classification of themes. At the end of the search, 23 articles were selected. Two scripts were used to systematize the information. The studies that used the game, based on the model of selection of behavior by consequences manipulated variables related to social relations, self-control and metacontingencies. The relationship between the Prisoners' Dilemma and the experimental analysis of behavior has been accentuated in the last decades, which suggests an increase and continuity of studies in this area.Keywords: prisoner’s dilemma game, experimental analysis of behavior, self-control, metacontingencies, social behavior.