Browsing by Author "Monge, Cecilia"
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Publication Game theory in the classroom: low cooperative relationships identify bullying patterns in elementary schools(2024) Landaeta Torres, Víctor; Candia Vallejos, Cristian; Pulgar, Javier; Fábrega, Jorge; Varela, Jorge; Yaikin, Tamara; Monge, Cecilia; Rodriguez-Sickert, CarlosCooperation and bullying have a subtle yet important interaction that influences the social dynamics in elementary school classrooms. We investigate this interplay in a large sample of 1112 students across 47 public primary classrooms in Chile. Using a video game interface to create a dyadic, non-anonymous social dilemma, we map the cooperative social network within each classroom. In addition, we collect peer nomination data and use the Illinois Bullying Scale to categorize students as bullies, victims, or bully victims. Our results indicate that low levels of received cooperation significantly increase the likelihood of students being identified with the dual role of both bully and victim, known as the bully-victim profile. This negative relationship remains robust even after controlling for demographic and classroom context variables using multilevel regression models and is consistent when employing causal inference techniques such as statistical matching. We propose that the relationship between received cooperation and the bully-victim profile stems from the capacity of received cooperation to capture key factors influencing social relationships among students, such as popularity, prosociality, GPA, and aggressiveness. Our study contributes to the understanding of human interaction in educational settings and it offers a new framework for targeted interventions in primary education, providing insights for future educational policies and practices.Publication Reciprocity heightens academic performance(2022) Candia, Cristián; Oyarzún, Melanie; Landaeta, Víctor; Yaikin, T.; Monge, Cecilia; Hidalgo, Cesar; Rodríguez-Sickert, CarlosSocial relationships are pivotal for human beings. Yet, we still lack a complete understanding of the types and conditions of social relationships that facilitate learning among children. Here, we present the results of a study involving 855 elementary school children from 14 different public schools in Chile designed to understand their social learning strategies in classrooms. We mapped students' social relationships using a behavioral experiment–a non-anonymous social dilemma–that allows us to measure cooperation and infer reciprocal and asymmetrical relationships between peers. We implemented the experiment synchronously in each classroom using networked tablets and a friendly user interface to mitigate cognitive barriers and boost students' engagement. Using regression models, we found a positive and significant association between reciprocity and academic performance. This result holds after controlling for class attendance, sex, parents’ education, social status, individual cooperative dispositions, and fixed effects per class group. Finally, using a difference-in-difference framework, we found robust evidence that reciprocity heightens academic performance by comparing two consecutive academic semesters. This effect is heterogeneous and is considerably more prominent for the top 20% students experiencing higher levels of reciprocity in their social relationships. We expect these results to inform cooperative learning interventions in elementary education.