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Influence: Are You a Defector (Freeloader), Punisher or Cooperator

by Kevin Hogan

In societies where the modern ethic of co-operation with unrelated strangers is less familiar and the rule of law is perceived to be weak, revenge is more common and co-operation suffers, the study found.

Economists are keen to understand the decision-making processes behind co-operation, as working together for the common good is crucial for progress in any society -- not least for effectively addressing big issues such as recycling and tackling climate change.

Professor Simon Gaechter and Dr. Benedikt Herrmann at The University of Nottingham and Dr. Christian Thoni at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, studied the behaviour of people in 16 cities around the world, from Boston and Bonn to Riyadh, Minsk, Nottingham, Seoul and others.

Volunteers played a 'public goods' game in which they were given tokens and told they could either keep them all for themselves, or put it into a common 'pot' that would yield extra interest that would be shared out equally among all players.

If all volunteers pooled their money, then all would come out with more at the end of the game. But if individuals chose to keep the money for themselves -- and not contribute anything -- they could keep all of it and also benefit from the generosity of others, by sharing in the pooled interest.

Levels of co-operation were remarkably similar across all 16 nations. However, behaviour changed dramatically when everyone's contributions were revealed -- and players were given the ability to 'punish' other players. Players could punish each other by taking tokens away from each other, although this option cost the Punisher a token as well. As previous studies have shown, players were willing to part with a token of their own in order to punish Low Investors or Freeloaders.

But the Science study also uncovered a new phenomenon. In subsequent rounds of the game, the Freeloaders took revenge and hit back at their Higher-Paying Counterparts in what is described as 'anti-social punishment'. Or at least, they did in some cities -- most notably in more traditional societies based on authoritarian and parochial social institutions such as Muscat in Oman, Athens, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Samara in Russia, Minsk in Belarus, Istanbul, Seoul and Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine. Players in these cities showed the highest levels of 'anti-social punishment'.

The ultimate effect of this is to decrease co-operation between individuals, bringing down contributions and earnings to very low levels.

Continue the article to learn more about specific cities' results...

Continue: Page | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

Kevin Hogan
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