Game Playing Strategy as an Indicator of Racial Prejudice Among South African Students

The aim of this study was to examine racial discrimination of South African students using playing strategy in the prisoners dilemma game as an unobtrusive measure. University students (30 white and 30 black men) each played two 30-trial games, one with a black confederate and one with a white confederate. In each game, the students played against an identical 60% noncontingent strategy. Both the black and white students cooperated to a significantly greater extent with the black co-player. In the case of the white students, the degree of cooperation was largely determined by motivational orientation, with 7 of the students adopting a paternalistic approach that involved a deliberate attempt to assist the black co-player. This finding is interpreted in terms of reverse discrimination. The motivational orientation of the black students exerted a strong influence on their ratings of the co-player.