We investigated the Cheater-Hawk Hypothesis of psychopathy in a sample of 205 undergraduate students. Participants played The Sims 3 video game with four pre-made same-sex roommate characters whose personalities were selected to represent a cheater, a hawk, a cooperator, and a dove. Interactions between game characters were coded for charm, friendliness, and provoked/unprovoked aggression (“mean” and “fight” behaviors). Overall, people with psychopathic traits used more hawk behaviors (mean and fight behaviors), irrespective of character, but they did not use more of the cheater-related behaviors (“friendly,” “funny,” and “complimenting” behaviors). With respect to specific characters, participants with psychopathic traits used primarily hawk behaviors with the cheater and dove and cheater behaviors with the hawk (in keeping with predictions). Overall, there was some support for the Cheater-Hawk Hypothesis. As well, people higher on psychopathic traits appear to engage in different behaviors depending upon the target of their behavior. Overall, the study also lends support to the use of video game paradigms for investigating behavior.

中文翻译：

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精神病性模拟市民：在电子游戏中测试骗子霍克假说

我们调查了205名本科生样本中的精神病作弊者-霍克假说。参与者使用四个预制的同性室友角色玩了《模拟人生3》电子游戏，这些角色的个性被选择代表作弊者，鹰派，合作者和鸽子。游戏角色之间的互动被编码为具有魅力，友善和挑衅/无礼的侵略（“平均”和“战斗”行为）。总体而言，具有精神病性状的人会使用更多的鹰派行为（指平均行为和打架行为），而与性格无关，但他们不会使用更多与作弊者相关的行为（“友好”，“有趣”和“称赞”行为）。关于特定角色，具有精神病性状的参与者主要使用骗子的鹰派行为和鸽子的鸽子以及骗子行为（与预测一致）。总体而言，对于作弊者-霍克假说有一些支持。同样，精神病性状较高的人似乎根据其行为目标而从事不同的行为。总体而言，该研究还支持使用视频游戏范例来调查行为。