The Power of Tolerance vs. Unselfishness as a Cultural Determinant of Cooperation.

Kimmo Eriksson,Irina Vartanova,Brent Simpson

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.678237

Abstract

Cooperation in collective action problems and resource dilemmas is often assumed to depend on the values of the individuals involved, such as their degree of unselfishness and tolerance. Societal differences in cooperation and cooperative norms may therefore result from cultural variation in emphasis on these personal values. Here we draw on several cross-national datasets to examine whether society-level emphasis on unselfishness and tolerance and respect for other people predict how societies vary in cooperation [in a continuous prisoner’s dilemma (PD)] and in norms governing cooperation [in a common pool resource dilemma (CPR)]. The results suggest that high levels of cooperation and cooperative norms are promoted specifically by a cultural emphasis on tolerance.

Highlights

What makes some societies more cooperative than others? This question is important for a number of reasons, including the possibility that societal differences in cooperation may have played an important role in human cultural evolution (Henrich, 2004; Richerson et al, 2016)
We report findings showing that a societal emphasis on tolerance plays a stronger role than an emphasis on unselfishness in predicting international differences in cooperation, cooperative norms, and cooperative metanorms
This paper focuses on how societal emphasis on unselfishness and/or tolerance may support a suite of behaviors underlying cooperation, including cooperative behavior, cooperative norms, and cooperative metanorms

Summary

Introduction

This question is important for a number of reasons, including the possibility that societal differences in cooperation may have played an important role in human cultural evolution (Henrich, 2004; Richerson et al, 2016). We focus on another domain-general factor: the kind of personal qualities that a society emphasizes and values in its citizens. We focus on the qualities of unselfishness and tolerance. We report findings showing that a societal emphasis on tolerance plays a stronger role than an emphasis on unselfishness in predicting international differences in cooperation, cooperative norms, and cooperative metanorms

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Conclusion