Is identity-priming a short-cut to cooperation? A project report

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of two causal factors in social cooperation. One factor is identity: individuals may choose to preferentially cooperate with those with whom an identity is shared. The identity condition introduced here follows a “3D” (macro/meso/micro) heuristic. Another factor is thinking style: individuals with a propensity for zero-sum thinking may favour more competitive than cooperative tactics in a laboratory economic game. A public goods game was conducted on a population of 150 students at Middlesex University London. Zero-sum thinking was measured using a new questionnaire developed by Fearon and Good. Using two dependent variables, (1) mean contributions of monetary tokens per round, (2) summed contributions of monetary tokens over entire game, a linear multiple regression found that both condition (macro/meso/micro) and zero-sum thinking were significant predictors (although the R2 is low, indicating that only a small portion of the variance is explained). The results suggested, that, contrary to expectation, encouraging players to think in a cosmopolitan style might have some beneficial effect.

Rebuilding Macroeconomics Working Paper Series.
Working paper no. 18.