Group formation and cooperation in social dilemmas: A survey and meta-analytic evidence

Abstract

We survey the growing literature on group formation in the context of three types of social dilemma games: public goods games, common pool resources, and the prisoner's dilemma. The 62 surveyed papers study the effect of different sorting mechanisms-endogenous, endogenous with the option to play the game, and exogenous-on cooperation rates. Our survey shows that cooperators are highly sensitive to the presence of free-riders, independently of the sorting mechanism. We complement the survey with a meta-analysis showing no difference in terms of cooperation between studies implementing an endogenous and exogenous sorting. What is more, we find that it is no more likely for a cooperator to be matched with like-minded partners in endogenously formed groups than in exogenously formed groups. These observations are related. As we show in the survey, the success of a sorting method in matching like-minded individuals and the levels of cooperation are closely interlinked. * For valuable insights at various stages of this work, we wish to thank Rachel Croson, Fabrice Le Lec, Marie-Claire Villeval and the participants at the IMEBESS meeting in Barcelona, the ASFEE meeting in Rennes, and at the Cooperation: Interdisciplinary Methods Workshop in Lille. We are also grateful to the authors who responded to our various requests on the ESA forum.

When Two Become One: How Group Mergers Affect Solidarity

“…These findings complement the literature studying the effects of group mergers on performance and norm transmission in groups (Charness and Yang [28]; Ehrhart and Keser [29]; Gürerk et al [30]; Guido et al [31]; Feiler and Camerer [32]; Ranehill et al [33]; Weber and Camerer [34]; Weber [35]). 2 Feiler and Camerer [32] for example, study endogenous group mergers in an experiment (i.e., group mergers in which group members decide whether or not and with whom to merge).…”

Does similarity trigger cooperation? Dyadic effect of similarity in social value orientation and cognitive resources on cooperation

“…At a broader group level, similarity promotes group cohesion (Turner et al, 1992 ), and information about the similarities between ingroups and outgroups results in more positive attitudes toward the outgroups (Hanel et al, 2019 ). Similarly, the success of a sorting method in matching like-minded individuals has proven to be interlinked with cooperation (Guido et al, 2019 ). Burlando and Guala ( 2005 ) categorized participants according to their investment in social dilemmas as cooperators, reciprocators, free riders, and noisy, and grouped same-categorized participants to complete repeated public goods tasks.…”

“…However, the difference between the C, C, C and C, S, S groups was pronounced, and the cooperation level of the S, S, S group was significantly lower than that of the other groups. In other words, a match of cooperative individuals can maintain both group-level and individual-level cooperation at a high level (Guido et al, 2019 ). However, classifications in these studies are based on participants’ behavioral patterns rather than inherent traits and values, which raises the question of whether the coherence of inherent qualities, including SVO similarity, can affect cooperation.…”

“…This is especially true in an iterated social dilemma, in which feedback is provided and evaluated by both members. A growing number of studies highlight that an individual’s level of cooperation in a repeated social dilemma shows a significant difference when he or she is matched with a like-minded counterpart as opposed to an unlike-minded counterpart (Burlando & Guala, 2005 ; Guido et al, 2019 ). However, these studies share a common shortcoming in that they categorized participants and formed the dyads according to the behavioral patterns of their participants instead of their inherent traits, and studies focusing on the match of inherent traits have been limited to gender matching (Colman et al, 2018 ; Davis et al, 2016 ).…”

How Consistent Contributors Inspire Individuals to Cooperate: The Role of Moral Elevation and Social Value Orientation

“…Many empirical studies have shown that group norms facilitate cooperation [14,30,31], and cooperative norms have also been proven to be a mediator of the CC effect [23]. While most researchers agree with these findings, they have differing opinions regarding the most suitable theory for explaining how CCs influence cooperation via perceived group norms.…”