Motivation

Carol Gilligan writes that “boys in their games are more concerned with rules while girls are more concerned with relationships, often at the expense of the game itself.” (p. 16). Does this gender difference explain in part why traditional rational choice models have proven so poor in predicting behavior in multi-player cooperation games? The idea is that rational choice models are developed by men in male-dominated ivy towers – thus they capture the male values of rules and independent preferences but ignore more female values like relationships, community, and cooperation.

Similarly, Gilligan seeks to reframe gendered cultural perceptions of “success” by asking “not why women have conflicts about competitive success, but why men show such readiness to adopt and celebrate a rather narrow vision of success.” (p. 16). Do the studies we have read for this class help move us to toward this broader understanding of success? The idea is that, by revealing that relational and communal values are intrinsic to some degree in most players regardless of gender, we become more consciously aware of these values and can better acknowledge and respect them.