Cooperation as self-interested reciprocity in the Centipede

The paper points to a deeper understanding of reciprocity as the outcome of social learning which takes place between two players of the Centipede. The experimental design consists of a Trust Game followed by a Centipede Game, as this latter's environment of strategic interaction is a sort of multi-stage Trust Game and the former a one-stage Trust Game. Results indicate that the level of cooperation is sensitive to the pay-off structure (this effect being stronger when players are aware of the opponents' social preferences), that heterogeneous pairs are more cooperative, and that sefish subjects modify their behavior whenever they perceive that to trust their partners is both possible and worthwhile.