I don't remember where I saw this, but I believe this has to do with culture. In North America what you described is true, where as in developing countries it is not. The second person would rather just take whatever money is given and run.
If someone can remind me of the name of this game I can find it..
In North America what you described is true, where as in developing countries it is not.
Not true. The game was conducted in "developing countries" as well, and the results seem to be same.
I can't locate the references right now, but a little googling might help (Especially I remember the results being mentioned one of the TED talks.)
I remember at least one case where the game was played, and the person who got to choose took 9 bucks out of 10, and they all thought it was fair, simply because he was lucky to be the guy who got to choose.
edit: it's in the article HaloZero links in this thread.
When he began to run the game it became immediately clear that Machiguengan behavior was dramatically different from that of the average North American. To begin with, the offers from the first player were much lower. In addition, when on the receiving end of the game, the Machiguenga rarely refused even the lowest possible amount. “It just seemed ridiculous to the Machiguenga that you would reject an offer of free money,” says Henrich. “They just didn’t understand why anyone would sacrifice money to punish someone who had the good luck of getting to play the other role in the game.”
If someone can remind me of the name of this game I can find it..