The ability to cooperate with strangers is crucial for providing public goods, such as climate protection. Researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, the University of Bonn, and the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, conducted a global study to determine the extent of human cooperation. The results have now been published in the journal Science.
The study shows that people worldwide systematically underestimate how cooperative others are. The decision to cooperate for the benefit for the common good is significantly influenced by beliefs toward cooperation, normative expectations, and personal preferences.
False assumptions hinder cooperation
“One of the key findings is that across countries and cultures, many people are willing to contribute to the common good,” says Peter Andre, a professor of Behavioral Finance at SAFE and Goethe University Frankfurt.
Across the global sample, 69 percent of the participants would cooperate with strangers to support the common good. However, on average, the participants expected only 47 percent of their fellow citizens would cooperate. “This pessimism can be an obstacle to successful cooperation,” comments Andre.
The study also identifies which human characteristics lead to impersonal cooperation. People are more likely to cooperate when they believe others will do the same, when they support social norms in favor of contributing to the common good, and when they show stronger altruistic and patient preferences.
Yet, the researchers show that when people know that others share their concern for the public good, their beliefs shift and also the willingness to cooperate modestly increases. “People are more cooperative than we tend to think,” Andre explains. “Correcting these misperceptions may help societies mobilize collective action more effectively.”
Findings from 125 countries: Climate protection is more important than personal gain
Peter Andre, Teodora Boneva (University of Bonn), Felix Chopra (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management), and Armin Falk (University of Bonn) conducted a global cooperation experiment and collected data from over 101,000 survey participants across 125 countries. Participants had to choose between a higher payoff for themselves and a lower personal payoff that, if matched by another participant, triggered a donation to fight global warming. The study was embedded in the Gallup World Poll 2021/2022.
Link to publication: Armin Falk, Teodora Boneva, Peter Andre, Felix Chopra, „Homo cooperans: Understanding the nature of human cooperation“
