Researchers Ask: What Makes People Cooperate? Or Not?

 

The president of the European Commission appealed for cooperation between the European Union and the United States.

Here is what Jean-Paul Juncker said to U.S. President Donald Trump¹ during their talks in Washington, DC:

“We are close partners – allies, not enemies. We have to work together.”

But two new studies show cooperation does not always go the way people might expect.

When cooperation turns selfish

Erol Ak?ay is an assistant professor of biology at the University of Pennsylvania. He and other researchers have been trying to understand what makes members of a social group cooperative. He noted² in an email to VOA that people, animals, plants, and even bacteria help each other.

Ak?ay and his research team’s first finding deals with the kinds of relationships or ties organisms formed. Were these connections with random³ strangers? Or were they with those related or already known to them, such as with family members or friends of their parents?

Not surprisingly, Ak?ay learned that groups with many related connections became cooperative. However, as cooperation became more common, he noticed something new: Cooperating individuals also began to help people they were not related to. They helped everyone.

But a few individuals did not give back. As a result, the cooperative nature of the group changed. Everyone began to act selfishly.

Selfish societies were not a goal of Ak?ay’s study. So he tried to find what could bring cooperation back. He looked again at the link between individuals.

Ak?ay observed that when making a connection seemed costly⁴ individuals were more likely to limit their efforts. For example, primates⁵ spend more time grooming⁶ family members than others in the group. Or, as noted in Science Daily, you and I may go to the trouble of sending a holiday gift to a distant relative, but not to someone we just met on a bus.

As individuals spent time working on their connections with family members and friends, the cooperative nature of the group returned.

And what about those who did not cooperate at all? Ak?ay wrote in an email that the defectors “pay no cost and provide no benefit.”

But they missed something, he noted. If everyone cooperated, they all would have received more in return.

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

When good guys finish last

Another study examines how we react to extremely cooperative or generous people. In brief: We don’t like those who make us look bad.

The study was a project of researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada. Their findings were reported in the publication Psychological Science.

Pat Barclay, a psychology⁷ professor, was the lead researcher. He found that people across cultures enjoy punishing an individual they see as too good. They especially dislike very cooperative people at work or in other competitive situations.

Barclay says that, when faced with a high-performer, others can answer in two ways: “One is to step up your own game. The other is to bring the other person down.”

And often, Barclay says, people make the second choice. They claim the high-performer is a hypocrite or question his or her real reasons for being helpful. The goal, he says, is to reduce the social benefit such people earn for their generous acts. It is also to avoid having to do better themselves.

Barclay suggests that one reason may be found in early human history. If one person was an excellent hunter, the others feared he would take control and become their leader, Barclay said. The group wanted to defend their equal status more than reward a really good hunter.

Barclay says he sees a similar situation with activists⁹ who urge others to take action to improve the environment or society. Instead of joining the cause, others may choose to continue in their behavior and attack the activist⁸.

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

Words in This Story

random - adj. chosen without a particular plan or pattern

defector - n. a good or helpful result or effect

benefit - v. one who causes a weakness or failure

generous - adj. showing kindness and concern for others

step up - v. to do better, make a greater effort, or improve your performance

hypocrite - n. a person who claims or pretends to have certain beliefs about what is right but who behaves in a way that disagrees with those beliefs

status - n. the position or rank of someone or something when compared to others in a society

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

4 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

5 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

6 grooming   

n. 修饰, 美容，（动物）梳理毛发

参考例句：

• You should always pay attention to personal grooming. 你应随时注意个人仪容。
• We watched two apes grooming each other. 我们看两只猩猩在互相理毛。

7 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

8 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

9 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》