Culture and cooperation

Does the cultural background influence the success with which genetically unrelated individuals cooperate in social dilemma situations? In this paper, we provide an answer by analysing the data of Herrmann et al. (2008a), who studied cooperation and punishment in 16 subject pools from six different...

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Published inPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences Vol. 365; no. 1553; pp. 2651 - 2661
Main Authors Gächter, Simon, Herrmann, Benedikt, Thöni, Christian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England The Royal Society 12.09.2010
Subjects
Analysis of Variance
Behavioral economics
Choice Behavior
Cooperation
Cooperative Behavior
Cross cultural differences
Cross cultural studies
Cultural evolution
Cultural groups
Cultural values
Culture
Experimental Public Good Games
Human Cooperation
Humans
Population Groups
Public goods
Punishment
Social behavior
Social evolution
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Summary:Does the cultural background influence the success with which genetically unrelated individuals cooperate in social dilemma situations? In this paper, we provide an answer by analysing the data of Herrmann et al. (2008a), who studied cooperation and punishment in 16 subject pools from six different world cultures (as classified by Inglehart & Baker (2000)). We use analysis of variance to disentangle the importance of cultural background relative to individual heterogeneity and group-level differences in cooperation. We find that culture has a substantial influence on the extent of cooperation, in addition to individual heterogeneity and group-level differences identified by previous research. The significance of this result is that cultural background has a substantial influence on cooperation in otherwise identical environments. This is particularly true in the presence of punishment opportunities.
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Theme issue 'Cooperation and deception: from evolution to mechanisms' compiled and edited by Sarah F. Brosnan and Redouan Bshary
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ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.2010.0135