Deutsch, Morton (1920–)

Cooperation and Competition

Deutsch's impact was immediate. His doctoral dissertation contrasted the performance of cooperative groups (in which all members received the same reward for an output) and competitive groups (in which magnitude of reward was determined by each individual's contribution to the effort). He found the cooperative group members to be communicative, helpful, friendly, and supportive; oriented toward achievement; able to reach consensus; capable of coordinating efforts; and highly productive. By contrast, competitive group members were obstructionist, disrespectful of others' opinions, and inattentive; had little sense of “we-ness” and little interest in supporting others; were unconfident; frequently lacked consensus; and were uncoordinated and unproductive.

This result led Deutsch to ask how to instigate cooperation within a group. He concluded that trust is a key prerequisite. He defined trust informally as “confidence that [one] will find what is desired rather than what is feared” (Resolution of Conflict, 1973, p. 148) and formally as the subjective probability of a positive outcome occurring exceeding the subjective probability of a negative event occurring. Immediacy of the outcome also impacts trust—a positive outcome that is very likely to occur, but not for a long time, is unlikely to induce much trust, for example.

If the target of trust is another person, one must try to determine the person's intentions, and the reliability of those intentions, before assigning probabilities to the positive and negative outcomes. Perceived reliability is a function of the person's motivation to perform the intention; the person's commitment to the behavior; the extent to which [Page 205]the behavior is clearly focused on a target; and the extent to which the desired outcome can be produced only by that one specific behavior.

Under this framework, a person who states an intention to donate money for a good cause can be trusted to follow through on the intention if the money is needed immediately (motivation) and if the cause is important to the person (commitment); is directed toward one specific goal (focus); and needs only monetary support, with no other resources being relevant (specificity). Failure to meet any of these conditions (e.g., the money will be applied to a diffuse set of endeavors) will decrease trust that the person will act.

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