The categories of games are shown in this figure. The green box shows the games that are cooperative, the red box shows the games that are competitive, and the blue box shows the games that are solitary. Each dot is a player in the figure. A dotted line, solid line, and no line are used to refer to interactions between players. License: CC-BY 4.0
It is important for the development of complex social, emotional, physical, and cognitive skills to play. Young people can practice new behaviors in play. Humans only engage in games based on rules. Competitive or cooperative games may be played by people from different cultures. Researchers from Germany and Australia screened historical data to find out if cultures play games that correspond to how cooperative they are.
Humans all over the world play games, but they are not the same. Humans may use games to teach and store information. Was the last game you played a cooperative game, a competitive game, or a game that you played alone? Sarah Leisterer-Peoples, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, says that if you live in Germany, chances are high that you played a competitive game. "We think that games reflect aspects of human cultures, such as how competitive and cooperative the cultures are."
Competitive games are played frequently in cultures with different levels of status and wealth. In cultures with little or no differences in status and wealth, games tend to be more cooperative. This claim is limited by the fact that previous studies only looked at a small number of cultures. Researchers from Germany, Australia, and the UK wanted to know if the games cultures play correspond to how cooperative they are.
A historical perspective on the games played in the Pacific.
The research team sorted through a database of historical games played by cultures in the Pacific. The cultures in our study lived in a broad geographic range. The cultures were very diverse, but also shared similarities, which allowed for a comparison on several aspects of the cultures. When two groups live next to each other, it might be that they share some characteristics, such as how they get their food, but they might differ in other aspects. Leisterer-Peoples says they tried to hone in on the differences.
The scientists identified characteristics of cultures that indicate how cooperative they might be. One of the difficulties with historical data is that you can't go back in time to interview people from different cultures, but you have to rely on the historical documentation of these cultures.
They looked at how socially hierarchical cultures were, how often members of a culture conflict with each other, how often cultures conflict with other cultures, and how often group members hunt and fish. Leisterer-Peoples says that these are real-world proxies for cooperative behavior. They were able to identify 25 cultures that had historical information readily available on both the games they played and the cultural characteristics.
The games mimic real-world behavior.
The researchers found that the cultures that engage in conflicts with other cultures have more cooperative games than competitive games. Cultures with frequent conflicts with their own community members have more competitive games. The cultures were not related to what kinds of games were played.
"These findings are not completely out of the ordinary, but they make sense in light of theories on the evolution of cooperation in cultural groups." Group members have to compete with one another in times of conflict with other cultures. This is reflected in the games that are played. When there's a lot of conflict among the members of a group, they tend to play games that are competitive. Leisterer-Peoples says that the findings suggest that the games we play reflect the culture that we are in. Group norms are learned and practiced through games, which mimic real-world behavior.
Science lives by replicating previous findings. Future studies should investigate this finding in other parts of the world and in modern-day cultures. We don't know if this effect is relevant in today's culture. Traditional games that were played in children's free time have been replaced by store-bought games. Leisterer-Peoples says that future studies need to investigate the specific skills that are learned through games, not just the degree of cooperation in the games. This is just the beginning of studies on games in different cultures. There's more to discover.
There is an analysis of cooperative goal structures in Austronesian games.
The journal contains information about the PLoS ONE.
The study determines whether cultures play games that correspond to how cooperative they are.
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