Individuals with the firm heart are conducive to cooperation in social dilemma

Abstract

Abstract The attitude, silent or speaking, and the behavior, cooperation or betrayal, are two interrelated and mutually influential attributes of individuals. In the context of environmental dilemma, four strategies are determined depending on two factors mentioned. In this paper, a new analytic framework is built to take care of those four types of groups - silent cooperator, speaking cooperator, silent defector and speaking defector, and we catch sight of that the system has five situations in equilibrium: (i) only silent defectors left; (ii) two types of defector are living together; (iii) all four types of individual exist; (iv) two types of cooperator remained; (v) all are silent cooperators. We introduced an additional benefit to measure the approval for the silent partner from the public. Enough benefits can encourage cooperation, but it beyond a certain level there is no further function. Besides, when the possibility of being influenced is smaller than that of spontaneous actions, it means that the vast majority of individuals in society have the firm heart, the public recognition of silent cooperators may ensure cooperation. Conversely, the same conclusion cannot be reached. Individuals are influenced more easily, as the lash of the information times, cooperation may survive the dilemma by meeting two conditions that the approval for silent cooperators and the relative firmness of the most in our society. Therefore, individuals with the firm heart are conducive to the emergence and maintenance of cooperation in environmental dilemmas under the guidance of correct values.