Olvera, D. R., & Hake, D. F. (1976).
Producing a change from competition to sharing: Effects of large and adjusting response requirements.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
26, 321-333.
Pairs of high-school students matched-to-sample for money. On
each trial, the first pair member to complete a fixed ratio of
knob-pulling responses could work the matching problem on that
trial. Competition occurred when both pair members responded for
the problem. Sharing occurred when only one pair member responded
on each trial, and the subjects alternated trials. Hence, sharing
requires less responding and still allows a moderate number of
reinforcers for each subject. Recent research has shown that
increasing the response requirement to the point that it may have
aversive properties will produce a change from competition to
sharing. A related variable is an adjusting schedule that adjusts
the subjects' response requirements so that their abilities to
take reinforcers are equal. In this way, subjects might learn
that competition requires more responding but produces no more
reinforcers. However, recent research also suggests that
competition decreases over sessions without experimental
manipulations. Because of this possibility of a time-related
variable, ratio size and an adjusting schedule were studied in a
group design. Competition did decrease for all groups over
sessions, but the large-ratio groups switched from competition to
sharing sooner than the low-ratio groups. The adjusting schedule
had a similar but smaller effect.