The psychology of human cooperation Flashcards
What are three situations that require cooperation in daily life?
Group assignments, sports teams, community services
What are three situations that require cooperation in society?
Depletion of resources, spread of diseases, threats to security
Define cooperation
Prosocial behaviour that involves individuals working together for the collective welfare, often requiring personal sacrifices
How are social dilemmas created?
Conflict of interests between maximising ones personal welfare and collective welfare
What are three evolutionary motives for cooperation?
- Kin selection (people more likely to help those with whom they share a genetic link)
- Reciprocal altruism (people more likely to engage in altruistic behaviour to gain future benefits from others)
- Competitive altruism (people compete to be seen as the most altruistic member which yields repetitional benefits)
What are some examples of individual differences that affect if people cooperate?
- Social value orientation
- Trust
- Consideration of future consequences
What is meant by the individual difference social value orientation?
Three different types
1. Prosocials - value the welfare of others as much as own,
maximize joint outcomes and ensuring fairness
2. Individualists - prioritize own welfare over that of others,
maximize own outcomes regardless of the effects on others
3. Competitors - maximize own outcomes relative to others,
desire to win and be better off than others, even if it
means achieving a lower absolute outcome for themselves
as long as the differential is in their favor
How does trust affect cooperation?
Trust = belief that others are honesty and that trusting them is (not) risky
Those high in trust are more likely than those low in trust to contribute to public goods
What is meant by consideration of future consequences?
How does this affect cooperation?
Extent to which people consider the potential distant outcomes of their current behaviors and the extent to which they are influenced by these potential outcomes.
Individuals high in CFC are more likely to cooperate in social dilemmas and engage in pro-environmental behavior
What are some structural influences on whether people cooperate?
- Rewards and punishment
- Communication
- Repetition of interactions
- Group size
How do rewards/punishments affect cooperation?
People display more cooperation when there are sanctions compared to no sanctions
How does communication affect cooperation?
Communication has long been recognized as one of the most
effective solutions to promote cooperation in social dilemmas
How does repetition of interactions affect cooperation?
Repeated interaction with the same partner(s) may
encourage individuals to consider their long-term self-
interest, which in turn promotes cooperation
How does group size affect cooperation?
Increases in group size has been found to reduce self-efficacy, make people feel less responsible for group performance , and perceive greater anonymity – each of which could also explain a reduction in cooperation within larger group sizes
Societies with collectivistic values emphasise interdependence - what does this mean?
Individuals are committed to group goals and define themselves
in terms of belonging to stable closely knit groups
