Hostname: page-component-5cf477f64f-mgq6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-06T06:24:28.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Strong, bold, and kind: self-control and cooperation in social dilemmas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Martin G. Kocher ,
Peter Martinsson ,
Kristian Ove R. Myrseth  and
Conny E. Wollbrant
Martin G. Kocher*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Munich, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 Munich, Germany Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Box 640, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point Campus, 4000 Brisbane, Australia
Peter Martinsson*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Box 640, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden
Kristian Ove R. Myrseth*
Affiliation:
School of Management, University of St Andrews, KY16 9RJ St Andrews, UK
Conny E. Wollbrant*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Box 640, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden
*
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We develop a model that relates self-control to cooperation patterns in social dilemmas, and we test the model in a laboratory public goods experiment. As predicted, we find a robust association between stronger self-control and higher levels of cooperation, and the association is at its strongest when the decision maker’s risk aversion is low and the cooperation levels of others high. We interpret the pattern as evidence for the notion that individuals may experience an impulse to act in self-interest—and that cooperative behavior benefits from self-control. Free-riders differ from other contributor types only in their tendency not to have identified a self-control conflict in the first place.

Keywords

ExperimentPublic goodSelf-controlCooperationRiskC91D03H40
Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , March 2017 , pp. 44 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Economic Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-015-9475-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

References

Aaker, J, Drolet, A, & Griffin, D (2008). Recalling mixed emotions: How did I feel again?. Journal of Consumer Research, 35, 268–278. 10.1086/588570CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Achtziger, A, Alós-Ferrer, C, & Wagner, AK (2015). Money, depletion, and prosociality in the dictator game. Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 8, 1–14. 10.1037/npe0000031CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ainslie, G (1992). Picoeconomics: The strategic interaction of successive motivational states within the person. Studies in rationality and social change, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Alós-Ferrer, C, & Strack, F (2014). From dual processes to multiple selves: Implications for economic behavior. Journal of Economic Psychology, 41, 1–11. 10.1016/j.joep.2013.12.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ambrus, A, & Pathak, P (2011). Cooperation over finite horizons: A theory and experiments. Journal of Public Economics, 95, 500–512. 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2010.11.016CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, S, Goeree, J, & Holt, C (1998). A theoretical analysis of altruism and decision error in public goods games. Journal of Public Economics, 70, 297–323. 10.1016/S0047-2727(98)00035-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreoni, J (1988). Why free ride?: Strategies and learning in public goods experiments. Journal of Public Economics, 37, 291–304. 10.1016/0047-2727(88)90043-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreoni, J (1990). Impure altruism and donations to public goods: A theory of warm-glow giving. Economic Journal, 100, 464–477. 10.2307/2234133CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreoni, J (1995). Cooperation in public goods experiments: Kindness or confusion?. American Economic Review, 85, 891–904.Google Scholar
Andreoni, J., Rao, J. M., & Trachtman, H. (2011). Avoiding the ask: A field experiment on altruism, empathy, and charitable giving. Working Paper, UC San Diego.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayduk, O, Mendoza-Denton, R, Mischel, W, Downey, G, Peake, PK, & Rodriguez, M (2000). Regulating the interpersonal self: Strategic self-regulation for coping with rejection sensitivity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 776–792. 10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.776CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Battaglini, M, Bénebou, R, & Tirole, J (2005). Self-control in peer groups. Journal of Economic Theory, 123, 105–134. 10.1016/j.jet.2005.04.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bénabou, R, & Tirole, J (2002). Self-confidence and personal motivation. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117, 871–915. 10.1162/003355302760193913CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bénabou, R, & Tirole, J (2004). Willpower and personal rules. Journal of Political Economy, 112, 848–886. 10.1086/421167CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bodner, R, Prelec, D Brocas, I, & Carrillo, J (2003). Self-signaling and diagnostic utility in everyday decision making. Collected essays in psychology and economics, Oxford: Oxford University Press 105–123.Google Scholar
Boyce, C., Czajkowski, M., Hanley, N., Noussair, C., Townsend, M., & Tucker, S. (2015). The effects of emotions on preferences and choices for public goods. In Working Papers 2015-08, University of St. Andrews.Google Scholar
Brekke, KA, Kverndokk, S, & Nyborg, K (2003). An economic model of moral motivation. Journal of Public Economics, 87, 1967–1983. 10.1016/S0047-2727(01)00222-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burks, SV, Carpenter, JP, Goette, L, & Rustichini, A (2009). Cognitive skills affect economic preferences, strategic behavior, and job attachment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 7745–7750. 10.1073/pnas.0812360106CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chaudhuri, A (2011). Sustaining cooperation in laboratory public goods experiments: A selective survey of the literature. Experimental Economics, 14, 47–83. 10.1007/s10683-010-9257-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornellisen, G, Dewitte, S, & Warlop, L (2011). Are social value orientations expressed automatically? Decision making in the dictator game. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 1080–1090. 10.1177/0146167211405996CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croson, R (2007). Theories of commitment, altruism, and reciprocity: Evidence from linear public good games. Economic Inquiry, 45, 199–216. 10.1111/j.1465-7295.2006.00006.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, OS, Price, ME, & Price, JG (2008). Patience is a virtue: Cooperative people have lower discount rates. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 780–785. 10.1016/j.paid.2007.09.023CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickinson, DL, & Masclet, D (2015). Emotion venting and punishment in public good experiments. Journal of Public Economics, 122, 55–67. 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.10.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eigsti, I, Zayas, V, Mischel, W, Shoda, Y, Ayduk, O, Dadlani, MB, Davidson, MC, Aber, JL, & Casey, BJ (2006). Predictive cognitive control from preschool to late adolescence and young adulthood. Psychological Science, 17, 478–484. 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01732.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fehr, E, & Leibbrandt, A (2011). A field study on cooperativeness and impatience in the tragedy of the commons. Journal of Public Economics, 95, 1144–1155. 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.05.013CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fehr, E, & Schmidt, K (1999). A theory of fairness, competition and cooperation. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114, 817–868. 10.1162/003355399556151CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fehr, E, Schmidt, KM Kolm, S-C, & Mercier, YJ (2006). The economics of fairness, reciprocity and altruism—experimental evidence and new theories. Handbook on the economics of giving, reciprocity and altruism, Amsterdam: Elsevier 615–691.Google Scholar
Figuières, C, Masclet, D, & Willinger, M (2013). Weak moral motivation leads to the decline of voluntary contributions. Journal of Public Economic Theory, 15, 745–772. 10.1111/jpet.12036CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischbacher, U (2007). z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments. Experimental Economics, 10, 171–178. 10.1007/s10683-006-9159-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischbacher, U, & Gächter, S (2010). Social preferences, beliefs, and the dynamics of free riding in public good experiments. American Economic Review, 100, 541–556. 10.1257/aer.100.1.541CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischbacher, U, Gächter, S, & Fehr, E (2001). Are people conditionally cooperative? Evidence from a public goods experiment. Economic Letters, 71, 397–404. 10.1016/S0165-1765(01)00394-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fudenberg, D, & Levine, D (2006). A dual self model of impulse control. American Economic Review, 96, 1449–1476. 10.1257/aer.96.5.1449CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gächter, S Frey, B, & Stutzer, A (2007). Conditional cooperation. Behavioral regularities from the lab and the field and their policy implications. Economics and psychology. A promising new cross-disciplinary field, Cambridge: MIT Press 19–50 CESifo Seminar Series.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gächter, S, & Renner, E (2010). The effects of (incentivized) belief elicitation in public goods experiments. Experimental Economics, 13, 364–377. 10.1007/s10683-010-9246-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greiner, B Kremer, K, & Macho, V (2004). An online recruitment system for economic experiments. Forschung und wissenschaftliches Rechnen 2003, Göttingen: GWDG Bericht 63 79–93.Google Scholar
Gul, F, & Pesendorfer, W (2001). Temptation and self-control. Econometrica, 69, 1403–1436. 10.1111/1468-0262.00252CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harsanyi, J (1980). Rule utilitarianism, rights, obligations and the theory of rational behavior. Theory and Decision, 12, 115–133. 10.1007/BF00154357CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hauge, K. E., Brekke, K. A., Johansson, L-O., Johansson-Stenman, O., & Svedsäter, H. (2009). Are social preferences skin deep? Dictators under cognitive load. Working Paper in Economics 371, University of Gothenburg.Google Scholar
Herrmann, B, & Thöni, C (2009). Measuring conditional cooperation: A replication study in Russia. Experimental Economics, 12, 87–92. 10.1007/s10683-008-9197-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holt, C, & Laury, S (2002). Risk aversion and incentive effects. American Economic Review, 92, 1644–1655. 10.1257/000282802762024700CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houser, D, & Kurzban, R (2002). Revisiting kindness and confusion in public goods experiments. American Economic Review, 92, 1062–1069. 10.1257/00028280260344605CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houser, D, Montinari, N, & Piovesan, M (2012). Private and public decisions in social dilemmas: Evidence from children’s behavior. PLoS One, 7, e41568 10.1371/journal.pone.0041568CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Joffily, M, Masclet, D, Noussair, C, & Villeval, M-C (2014). Emotions, sanctions and cooperation. Southern Economic Journal, 4, 1002–1027. 10.4284/0038-4038-2012.067CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kandori, M. (2002). The erosion and sustainability of norms and morale. Working Paper, CTRJE-F-169, University of Tokyo.Google Scholar
Katz, RC, & Singh, N (1986). A comparison of current smokers and self-cured quitters on Rosenbaum’s self-control schedule. Addictive Behaviors, 11, 63–65. 10.1016/0306-4603(86)90011-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kelley, H, & Stahelski, A (1970). Social interaction basis of cooperators’ and competitors’ beliefs about others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 66–91. 10.1037/h0029849CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keser, C, & van Winden, F (2000). Conditional cooperation and voluntary contributions to public goods. Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 102, 23–39. 10.1111/1467-9442.00182CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kieslich, PJ, & Hilbig, BE (2014). Cognitive conflict in social dilemmas: An analysis of response dynamics. Judgment and Decision Making, 9, 510–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klumpp, T (2012). Finitely repeated voluntary provision of a public good. Journal of Public Economic Theory, 14, 547–572. 10.1111/j.1467-9779.2012.01552.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kocher, MG, Cherry, T, Kroll, S, Netzer, RJ, & Sutter, M (2008). Conditional cooperation on three continents. Economics Letters, 101, 175–178. 10.1016/j.econlet.2008.07.015CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kocher, M. G., Martinsson, P., Matzat, D., & Wollbrant, C. (2011). The role of beliefs, trust and risk preferences in contributions to a public good. In Working Papers in Economics 482, University of Gothenburg.Google Scholar
Kreps, D, Milgrom, P, Roberts, J, & Wilson, R (1982). Rational cooperation in the finitely repeated prisoners’ dilemma. Journal of Economic Theory, 27, 245–252. 10.1016/0022-0531(82)90029-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laffont, J-J (1975). Macroeconomic constraints, economic efficiency and ethics: An introduction to Kantian economics. Economica, 42, 430–437. 10.2307/2553800CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ledyard, O Kagel, J, & Roth, A (1995). Public goods: Some experimental results (Chapter 2). Handbook of experimental economics, Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Lohse, J., Goeschl, T., & Diederich, J. (2014). Giving is a question of time: Response times and contributions to a real world public good. Discussion Paper Series No. 566, Department of Economics, University of Heidelberg.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lotito, G, Migheli, M, & Ortona, G (2013). Is cooperation instinctive? Evidence from the response times in a public goods game. Journal of Bioeconomics, 15, 123–133. 10.1007/s10818-012-9141-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinsson, P, Myrseth, KOR, & Wollbrant, C (2012). Reconciling pro-social vs. selfish behavior: On the role of self-control. Judgment and Decision Making, 7, 304–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinsson, P, Myrseth, KOR, & Wollbrant, C (2014). Social dilemmas: When self-control benefits cooperation. Journal of Economic Psychology, 45, 213–236. 10.1016/j.joep.2014.09.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinsson, P, Pham-Khanh, N, & Villegas-Palacio, C (2013). Conditional cooperation and disclosure in developing countries. Journal of Economic Psychology, 34, 148–155. 10.1016/j.joep.2012.09.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milgram, N, Sroloff, B, & Rosenbaum, M (1988). The procrastination of every day life. Journal of Research in Personality, 22, 197–212. 10.1016/0092-6566(88)90015-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mischel, W, & Metzner, R (1962). Preference for delayed reward as a function of age, intelligence, and length of delay interval. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 64, 425–431. 10.1037/h0045046CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mischel, W, Shoda, Y, & Peake, PK (1988). The nature of adolescent competencies predicted by preschool delay of gratification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 687–696. 10.1037/0022-3514.54.4.687CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mischel, W, Shoda, Y, & Rodriguez, ML (1989). Delay of gratification in children. Science, 244, 933–938. 10.1126/science.2658056CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Myrseth, KOR, & Fishbach, A (2009). Self-control: A function of knowing when and how to exercise restraint. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 247–252. 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01645.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myrseth, KOR, Fishbach, A, & Trope, Y (2009). Counteractive self-control: When making temptation available makes temptation less tempting. Psychological Science, 20, 159–163. 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02268.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myrseth, KOR, Riener, G, & Wollbrant, C (2015). Tangible temptation in the social dilemma: Cash, cooperation and self-control. Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 8, 61–77. 10.1037/npe0000035CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myrseth, KOR, & Wollbrant, C (2013). A theory of self-control and naïveté: The blights of willpower and blessings of temptation. Journal of Economic Psychology, 34, 8–19. 10.1016/j.joep.2012.11.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myrseth, K. O. R., & Wollbrant, C. (2015a). Intuitive cooperation refuted: Commentary on Rand et al. (2012) and Rand et al. (2014). University of Gothenburg, Working Papers in Economics No. 617.Google Scholar
Myrseth, KOR, & Wollbrant, C (2015). Less cognitive conflict does not imply choice of the default option: Commentary on Kieslich and Hilbig (2014). Judgment and Decision Making, 10, 277–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neugebauer, T, Perote, J, Schmidt, U, & Loos, M (2009). Selfish-biased conditional cooperation: On the decline of contributions in repeated public goods experiments. Journal of Economic Psychology, 30, 52–60. 10.1016/j.joep.2008.04.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nielsen, UH, Tyran, J-R, & Wengström, E (2014). Second thoughts on free riding. Economics Letters, 122, 13–139. 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.11.021CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nyborg, K (2000). Homo economicus and homo politicus: Interpretation and aggregation of environmental values. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 42, 305–322. 10.1016/S0167-2681(00)00091-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Donoghue, T., & Loewenstein, G. (2007). The heat of the moment: Modeling interactions between affect and deliberation. www.arts.cornell.edu/econ/edo1/heat.pdf.Google Scholar
Osgood, JM, & Muraven, M (2015). Self-Control depletion does not diminish attitudes about being prosocial but does diminish prosocial behaviors. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 37, 68–80. 10.1080/01973533.2014.996225CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palfrey, T, & Prisbrey, J (1997). Anomalous behavior in public goods experiments: How much and why?. American Economic Review, 87, 829–846.Google Scholar
Piovesan, M, & Wengström, E (2009). Fast or fair? A study of response times. Economics Letters, 105, 193–196. 10.1016/j.econlet.2009.07.017CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rand, DG, Greene, JD, & Nowak, MA (2012). Spontaneous giving and calculated greed. Nature, 489, 427–430. 10.1038/nature11467CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rand, DG, Peysakhovich, A, Kraft-Todd, GT, Newman, GE, Wurzbacher, O, Nowak, MA, & Greene, JD (2014). Social heuristics shape intuitive cooperation. Nature Communications, 5, 3677 10.1038/ncomms4677CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Romal, JB, & Kaplan, BJ (1995). Differences in self-control among spenders and savers. Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior, 32, 8–17.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, M (1980). A schedule for assessing self-control behaviors: Preliminary findings. Behavior Therapy, 11, 109–121. 10.1016/S0005-7894(80)80040-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenbaum, M (1980). Individual differences in self-control behaviors and tolerance of painful stimulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 89, 581–590. 10.1037/0021-843X.89.4.581CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosenbaum, M (1989). Self-control under stress: The role of learned resourcefulness. Advances in Behavior Research and Therapy, 11, 249–258. 10.1016/0146-6402(89)90028-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenbaum, M, & Palmon, N (1984). Helplessness and resourcefulness in coping with epilepsy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52, 244–253. 10.1037/0022-006X.52.2.244CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosenbaum, M, & Rolnick, A (1983). Self-control behaviors and coping with seasickness. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 7, 93–97. 10.1007/BF01173427CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenbaum, M, & Smira, B-AK (1986). Cognitive and personality factors in the delay of gratification of hemodialysis patients. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 357–364. 10.1037/0022-3514.51.2.357CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schelling, T (1984). Self-command in practice, in policy, and in a theory of choice. American Economic Review, 74, 1–11.Google Scholar
Schulz, JF, Fischbacher, U, Thöni, C, & Utikal, V (2014). Affect and fairness: Dictator games under cognitive load. Journal of Economic Psychology, 41, 77–87. 10.1016/j.joep.2012.08.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selten, R, & Sauermann, H (1967). Die Strategiemethode zur Erforschung des eingeschränkt rationalen Verhaltens im Rahmen eines Oligopolexperiments. Beiträge zur experimentellen Wirtschaftsforschung, Tübingen: Mohr 136–168.Google Scholar
Shoda, Y, Mischel, W, & Peake, PK (1990). Predicting adolescent cognitive and social competence from preschool delay of gratification: Identifying diagnostic conditions. Developmental Psychology, 26, 978–986. 10.1037/0012-1649.26.6.978CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugden, R (1984). On the economics of philanthropy. Economic Journal, 92, 341–350. 10.2307/2232444CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tinghög, G, Andersson, D, Bonn, C, Böttiger, H, Josephson, C, Lundgren, G et al., (2013). Intuition and cooperation reconsidered. Nature, 497, E1–E2. 10.1038/nature12194CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trope, Y, & Fishbach, A (2000). Counteractive self-control in overcoming temptation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 493–506. 10.1037/0022-3514.79.4.493CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verkoeijen, PPJL, & Bouwmeester, S (2014). Does intuition cause cooperation?. PLoS One, 9, e96654 10.1371/journal.pone.0096654CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Volk, S, Thöni, C, & Ruigrok, W (2012). Temporal stability and psychological foundations of cooperation preferences. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 81, 664–676. 10.1016/j.jebo.2011.10.006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zelmer, J (2003). Linear public goods games: A meta-analysis. Experimental Economics, 6, 299–310. 10.1023/A:1026277420119CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Kocher et al. supplementary material

Kocher et al. supplementary material 1
Download Kocher et al. supplementary material(File)
File 66.9 KB
Supplementary material: File

Kocher et al. supplementary material

Kocher et al. supplementary material 2
Download Kocher et al. supplementary material(File)
File 346.3 KB