Motivation in an asymmetric bargaining situation : A cross-cultural study(1)

Canadian and East Indian dyads played a temporally limited bargaining game with a two by five payoff matrix. There were three experimental conditions: (a) Equality condition: each player had an equal range of possible payoffs, (b) Topdog condition: each player ostensibly had a larger payoff range than the other, and (c) Underdog condition: each player ostensibly had a smaller payoff range than the other. The actual payoff range was identical across players and conditions. Canadians were more cooperative in the Topdog condition than in the Underdog condition whereas for the Indians, there was evidence that the opposite was the case. Among the Indians in the Underdog condition, a dominance-submission order apparently formed which may reflect the rigid social hierarchy in Indian society.