Social dilemmas occur when individuals have conflicting interests and must decide whether to cooperate or compete. For example, in a tragedy of the commons, individuals may choose to overgraze a shared pasture, even though this will ultimately lead to the depletion of the resource.
Previous models of social dilemmas have typically assumed that individuals are motivated by either self-interest or altruism. However, the new model developed by the UC Davis researchers suggests that individuals can also be motivated by a sense of fairness. This fairness motive can lead individuals to cooperate even when it is not in their own best interest, simply because they believe it is the right thing to do.
The researchers tested their model using a series of computer simulations. They found that cooperation was most likely to be sustained when individuals were motivated by a combination of self-interest, altruism, and fairness. When individuals were motivated only by self-interest, cooperation quickly broke down. However, when individuals had a sense of fairness, they were more likely to cooperate even when it was not in their own best interest.
The researchers' findings suggest that fairness is an important factor that can help to sustain cooperation in social dilemmas. This finding has implications for understanding a wide range of social phenomena, such as environmental protection, resource management, and international relations.
"Our model suggests that fairness can play a key role in sustaining cooperation even when individuals are motivated by self-interest," said study lead author Benjamin Allen, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at UC Davis. "This finding has important implications for understanding how we can design institutions and policies that promote cooperation."
The researchers' findings also suggest that interventions that promote a sense of fairness could help to increase cooperation in social dilemmas. For example, educational programs that teach people about the importance of fairness could help to increase cooperation in environmental protection and resource management.
"Our model provides a new framework for understanding how motives affect cooperation in social dilemmas," said study senior author Kathleen Salomon, a professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at UC Davis. "This framework can help us to design interventions that promote cooperation and improve social outcomes."
