Emergence of intergroup alliance in an interactional three-group game

This project, Emergence of Intergroup Alliance in an Interactional Three-Group Game, investigates how cooperation, hierarchy, and psychological orientations evolve when people interact under unequal conditions. It forms part of a doctoral study in social psychology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal supervised by Professor Kevin Durrheim. The study explores how patterns of alliance and resource sharing emerge when individuals occupy different status positions in a small interactive system. Traditional social psychology often relies on two-group models that explain bias and conflict but overlook the complexity of multi-group settings where actors can align upward, downward, or laterally. To address this gap, the present research uses a three-player experimental design that allows alliances to form dynamically within controlled, repeated interactions. Participants interact through the Virtual Interaction Application (VIAPPL), an online platform that simulates social exchange. Each participant begins with a set number of tokens representing resources. Three structural conditions are compared: Equality – all players start with equal resources. Flat Inequality – one advantaged player interacts with two disadvantaged players. Tiered Inequality – players occupy high, middle, and low positions in a hierarchy. Across ten rounds, participants decide how many tokens to allocate to each of the others. These exchanges provide a behavioural record of reciprocity and alliance building. Before and after the game, participants complete brief questionnaires assessing trust, willingness to collaborate, and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) to capture attitudinal change following interaction under equal or unequal conditions. The study tests three main expectations: Under equality, giving will be balanced but short-lived, reflecting reciprocity rather than strategy. Under flat inequality, disadvantaged players may attempt solidarity against the advantaged one, though this coalition is predicted to be fragile. Under tiered inequality, high- and middle-status players are expected to form durable alliances that reinforce hierarchy and yield greater cumulative wealth. Analyses use linear mixed-effects models to track alliance strength over rounds and a generalised linear model to assess wealth accumulation. Expected outcomes are that inequality will shape both cooperation and hierarchy: exchanges will reorganise around advantage, upward alliances will produce higher wealth, and psychological measures will show increased acceptance of hierarchy after exposure to unequal conditions. The project contributes to social psychology by moving beyond binary paradigms to model how structural inequality generates its own cooperative logic. It introduces the alliance-path variable as a novel measure of dynamic cooperation and demonstrates how inequality is reproduced through everyday interaction. More broadly, the findings aim to inform discussions of solidarity, hierarchy, and collective resistance in societies marked by persistent inequality, such as post-apartheid South Africa.