A British-American Contrast of Coalition Strategies in Four-Person Groups of Unequal Pivotal Power

Abstract

The effect of varying pivotal and initial resources power in a four-person coalition situation was investigated in the United States and England. Pivotal power was varied in the proportion 1:1/2:1/4h:1/4/4, while initial resources (relative powers) were distributed in the proportion 1:11/2:1/2/2:. The research included 132 subjects: 60 from junior high schools in New York and 72 from a comprehensive middle school in Leeds, England. The results indicate that both power position and nationality contributed to coalition-formation strategies. In general, British groups tended to play more competitively than American groups, distributing reward in accordance with pivotal power predictions. American subjects distributed reward according to an interim strategy. The findings are discussed with reference to nationality, power distribution, and friendship patterns.