On Getting People to Cooperate when Facing a Social Dilemma: Moralizing Helps
Abstract
Subjects played a social dilemma game, with monetary payoffs, in groups of 5-8 individuals. These games involved a choice between earning a small amount of money ($2 to $2.50) for oneself with no fine to other group members and earning a much larger amount ($8 to $12) with an equal fine levied on all other group members. Thus, each individual gained the small amount if all group members cooperated, while all received nothing if all defected, even though defecting is a dominating choice for each player. One-hundred-forty-three subjects in Eugene, Ore., and 56 students at the Univ. of California at Santa Barbara played these games under one of two conditions: (1) the experimenter emphasized at length the moral and ethical implications of making the cooperative or the defecting choice; or (2) the game was explained without any moral or ethical exhortation. In both Eugene and Santa Barbara, the instructions emphasizing the moral and ethical aspects of the choice significantly increased the rate of cooperation, despite the fact that sizeable amounts of money were involved.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA033063
Entities
People
- F. Talarowski
- Harriet Shaklee
- Robyn M. Dawes
Organizations
- Oregon Research Institute