Human Group Choice in Loss Minimization and Gain Maximization Games

College students participated as a group in a point-loss minimization game as well as in a point-gain maximization game. The rule of the maximization game was similar to that in previous studies of human group choice (e.g., Kraft and Baum Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 76 , 21–42, 2001 ). In particular, each participant in the maximization game could earn points by choosing 1 of 2 colors (red or blue). A certain number of points were allocated to each color, and the participant shared the points with the other people who chose the same color. In the minimization game, on the other hand, each of the participants had 3,000 points at the beginning of the game, and the goal was to minimize the point loss: The amount of points to be lost in each trial was computed by multiplying the points allocated to the chosen color by the number of people who chose that color. The ideal distribution of participants was observed not only in the maximization game but also in the minimization game.