ABSTRACT

Mixed-motive conflict has been a popular topic of study within psychology for decades. An enduring focus within this research domain has been on social dilemmas, which can be broadly defined as a situation in which there is a conflict between individual gain and collective gain—the best personal outcome is earned by behaving selfishly, but if all persons act in this way, everyone receives a poorer outcome than if all had acted in a collectively beneficial manner (Dawes, 1980; Komorita & Parks, 1995). For example, it is personally more lucrative to keep one's money and watch public television broadcasts than to give money to the station and watch its shows, but if all viewers act in this way, then the station will receive no money, will cease broadcasting, and all persons will be in a worse state than if all had made donations.