Cooperation

Definition

Cooperation is formally defined by the tendency to maximize outcomes for self and others (“doing well [Page 189]together”). It is often contrasted to competition, the tendency to maximize relative advantage over others (“doing better than others”), and to individualism, the tendency to maximize own outcomes with no or very little regard for others' outcomes (“doing well for yourself”).

Analysis

Cooperation and competition have been examined in several paradigms, although such issues have received most direct attention in so-called experimental games, such as the well-known Prisoner's Dilemma Game. This is a situation in which people often face two choices—a cooperative choice, which helps others at some cost to self, and a selfish choice, which harms others but serves self-interest. Cooperation has also been studied in the context of other experimental game situations as well as in real-life contexts. In all of this research, the key question is: How can we promote cooperative behavior that benefits outcomes for all individuals involved? Research has indeed indicates several personality variables and situational variables that affect cooperative behavior.

To begin with, people differ in their tendency to cooperate or not. Some people (prosocials) are simply more strongly inclined to make a cooperative choice than are others (individualists and competitors), who may more likely to make a selfish choice. This variable, called social value orientation, is also relevant to understanding cooperation in everyday life. For example, prosocials are more likely to engage in self-sacrifices in their close relationships, are more likely to help others, and are more likely to make donations to noble causes, such as helping the ill and the poor. Also, prosocials have a greater number of siblings, especially sisters, than people who are more self-oriented. Older people are more likely than younger people to be prosocial. Another personality variable is trust, or differences in the degree to which one believes others are honest and cooperative. People with high trust tend to cooperate more than those with low trust. One reason to do so is because of self-protection. If you do not trust others, you think that you will be the only one to cooperate—which means that the other will indeed take advantage of you. When people with low trust think that they can make a contribution (and know for sure that they will not be exploited or lose their contribution if others do not cooperate), then they tend to be as cooperative as those with high trust.

Clearly, the situation matters a lot too. Generally, people are much more likely to cooperate if the reward for cooperation is greater, or if the costs for noncooperation are greater. Thus, interventions by which cooperation becomes structurally more attractive (reward) and noncooperation less attractive (punishment) are effective means to promoting cooperation. These are policies that governments often adopt to enhance collectively desired behavior (cooperation)—by rewarding cooperative behavior (e.g., subsidizing the use of public transportation to decrease traffic jams) or punishing noncooperative behavior (e.g., penalizing those who use too much water during a water draught).

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