IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ratsoc/v17y2005i2p243-270.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Symmetry and the Illusion of Control as Bases for Cooperative Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Jeffrey Goldberg

    (jeffrey@goldmark.org)

  • Lívia Markoczy

    (A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California Riverside, livia@goldmark.org)

  • G. Lawrence Zahn

    (A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California Riverside, lawrence.zahn@ucr.edu)

Abstract

The existence of cooperation in the face of temptation to free ride requires explanation. We discuss two psychological phenomena, ‘symmetry’ and ‘the illusion of control,’ which we believe underlie the ‘what if everyone acted that way’ type of reasoning used in some types of cooperation. We provide a simple model of how these lead to cooperation. We also show how some bizarre causal beliefs, such as effect preceding cause, can follow from these phenomena. We look at some existing evidence for these phenomena and report on our studies which support the model.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey Goldberg & Lívia Markoczy & G. Lawrence Zahn, 2005. "Symmetry and the Illusion of Control as Bases for Cooperative Behavior," Rationality and Society, , vol. 17(2), pages 243-270, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:17:y:2005:i:2:p:243-270
    DOI: 10.1177/1043463105055431
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1043463105055431
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1043463105055431?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hirshleifer, Jack, 1985. "The Expanding Domain of Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(6), pages 53-68, December.
    2. Steven J. Brams, 1975. "Newcomb's Problem and Prisoners' Dilemma," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 19(4), pages 596-612, December.
    3. Elster, Jon, 1996. "Rationality and the Emotions," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(438), pages 1386-1397, September.
    4. Ken Binmore, 1994. "Game Theory and the Social Contract, Volume 1: Playing Fair," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262023636, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Irene van Staveren, 2012. "An Evolutionary Efficiency Alternative to the Notion of Pareto Efficiency," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 1(1), pages 1-6, July.
    2. Max Albert & Ronald A. Heiner, 2003. "An Indirect-Evolution Approad to Newcomb's Problem," Homo Oeconomicus, Institute of SocioEconomics, vol. 20, pages 161-194.
    3. H Peyton Young, 2014. "The Evolution of Social Norms," Economics Series Working Papers 726, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    4. Anne Corcos & Yorgos Rizopoulos, 2011. "Is prosocial behavior egocentric? The “invisible hand” of emotions," Post-Print halshs-01968213, HAL.
    5. Ingela Alger & Jörgen W. Weibull, 2013. "Homo Moralis—Preference Evolution Under Incomplete Information and Assortative Matching," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(6), pages 2269-2302, November.
    6. Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard, 2004. "Ulysses and the Rent-Seekers: The Benefits and Challenges of Constitutional Constraints on Leviathan," Advances in Austrian Economics, in: The Dynamics of Intervention: Regulation and Redistribution in the Mixed Economy, pages 245-278, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    7. Louis Corriveau, 2012. "Game theory and the kula," Rationality and Society, , vol. 24(1), pages 106-128, February.
    8. Grichnik, Dietmar & Smeja, Alexander & Welpe, Isabell, 2010. "The importance of being emotional: How do emotions affect entrepreneurial opportunity evaluation and exploitation?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 15-29, October.
    9. Ronaldo Fiani, 2004. "An Evaluation of the Role of the State and Property Rights in Douglass North’s Analysis," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 1003-1020, December.
    10. Abraham Aldama & Mateo Vásquez-Cortés & Lauren Elyssa Young, 2019. "Fear and citizen coordination against dictatorship," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 31(1), pages 103-125, January.
    11. Bruno S. Frey & Stephan Meier, "undated". "Pro-Social Behavior, Reciprocity or Both?," IEW - Working Papers 107, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    12. Nataliya Kusa, 2018. "Should intra-familial time transfers be compensated financially?," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201802, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    13. Schaefer, Alexander, 2021. "Rationality, uncertainty, and unanimity: an epistemic critique of contractarianism," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(1), pages 82-117, March.
    14. Ley, Eduardo, 2006. "Statistical inference as a bargaining game," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 142-149, October.
    15. Holt, Gerhard, 2000. "A comment on indentured servitude: in response to Kritikos and Bolle -- February 15th, 1998," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 135-136, May.
    16. Robert Lapson, 1993. "Cooperation by Indirect Revelation Through Strategic Behavior," Discussion Papers 1036, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    17. Smith, Trenton G. & Tasnadi, Attila, 2007. "A theory of natural addiction," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 316-344, May.
    18. Pursey Heugens & J. Oosterhout & Muel Kaptein, 2006. "Foundations and Applications for Contractualist Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 68(3), pages 211-228, October.
    19. Bruno Frey, 1999. "State Support and Creativity in the Arts: Some New Considerations," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 23(1), pages 71-85, March.
    20. Chaitanya S. Gokhale & Joseph Bulbulia & Marcus Frean, 2022. "Collective narratives catalyse cooperation," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:17:y:2005:i:2:p:243-270. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.