An International Study of Pure Coordination Games: Adaptable Solutions When Intuitions Are Presumed to Vary

Pure coordination games require no communication among players who seek to coordinate decisions and actions. Players need to achieve a “meeting-of-minds” by using their intuitions to pick a response considered mutually salient. Previous work has examined the forms of reasoning (e.g., virtual bargaining, recursive mindreading) and common knowledge conditions that are crucial for success, but has paid little attention to the content of intuitive coordination solutions. The present paper sampled British participants and Global participants (from many countries), and examined their ability to solve thirty novel open-ended coordination problems, either within- or between-groups. Participants coordinated successfully in all conditions, and adjusted their intuitions accurately for different groups. Intuitions were not only used effectively, but also participant’s intuitive models are adjusted in the right direction for converging on mutual solutions. Alignment of intuitions provide a model system for better understanding a variety of social phenomena such as communication, coordination and social interaction.