Psychology Commons^™

Responses To Conflict And Cooperation In Adolescents With Anxiety And Mood Disorders, Erin B. Mcclure, Jessica M. Parrish, Eric E. Nelson, Joshua Easter, John F. Thorne, James K. Rilling, Monique Ernst, Daniel S. Pine

Psychology Faculty Publications

This study examined patterns of behavioral and emotional responses to conflict and cooperation in adolescents with anxiety/mood disorders and healthy peers. We compared performance on and emotional responses to the Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) game, an economic exchange task involving conflict and cooperation, between adolescents with anxiety/depressive disorders (A/D) (N=21) and healthy comparisons (n=29). Participants were deceived to believe their co-player (a pre-programmed computer algorithm) was another study participant. A/D adolescents differed significantly from comparisons in patterns of play and emotional response to the game. Specifically, A/D participants responded more cooperatively to cooperative overtures from their co-players; A/D girls also reported …