Assessing the effects of pandemic risk on cooperation and social norms using a before-after Covid-19 comparison in two long-term experiments
Abstract How does threat from disease shape our cooperative actions and the social norms that guide such behaviour? To study these questions, we draw on a collective-risk social dilemma experiment that we ran before the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic (Wave 1, 2018) and compare this to its exact...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53427-z |
| _version_ | 1797274759980908544 |
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| author | Eva Vriens Aron Szekely Francesca Lipari Alberto Antonioni Angel Sánchez Luca Tummolini Giulia Andrighetto |
| author_facet | Eva Vriens Aron Szekely Francesca Lipari Alberto Antonioni Angel Sánchez Luca Tummolini Giulia Andrighetto |
| author_sort | Eva Vriens |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract How does threat from disease shape our cooperative actions and the social norms that guide such behaviour? To study these questions, we draw on a collective-risk social dilemma experiment that we ran before the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic (Wave 1, 2018) and compare this to its exact replication, sampling from the same population, that we conducted during the first wave of the pandemic (Wave 2, 2020). Tightness-looseness theory predicts and evidence generally supports that both cooperation and accompanying social norms should increase, yet, we mostly did not find this. Contributions, the probability of reaching the threshold (cooperation), and the contents of the social norm (how much people should contribute) remained similar across the waves, although the strength of these social norms were slightly greater in Wave 2. We also study whether the results from Wave 1 that should not be affected by the pandemic—the relationship between social norms and cooperation and specific behavioural types—replicate in Wave 2 and find that these results generally hold. Overall, our work demonstrates that social norms are important drivers of cooperation, yet, communicable diseases, at least in the short term, have little or no effects on either. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:02:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f7a95d42e9c84dc38f64b14b40851f65 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:02:54Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-f7a95d42e9c84dc38f64b14b40851f652024-03-05T19:04:32ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-02-0114111310.1038/s41598-024-53427-zAssessing the effects of pandemic risk on cooperation and social norms using a before-after Covid-19 comparison in two long-term experimentsEva Vriens0Aron Szekely1Francesca Lipari2Alberto Antonioni3Angel Sánchez4Luca Tummolini5Giulia Andrighetto6Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research CouncilInstitute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research CouncilDepartment of Economic Analysis and Quantitative Economics, Universidad Complutense de MadridGrupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC), Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de MadridGrupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC), Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de MadridInstitute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research CouncilInstitute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research CouncilAbstract How does threat from disease shape our cooperative actions and the social norms that guide such behaviour? To study these questions, we draw on a collective-risk social dilemma experiment that we ran before the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic (Wave 1, 2018) and compare this to its exact replication, sampling from the same population, that we conducted during the first wave of the pandemic (Wave 2, 2020). Tightness-looseness theory predicts and evidence generally supports that both cooperation and accompanying social norms should increase, yet, we mostly did not find this. Contributions, the probability of reaching the threshold (cooperation), and the contents of the social norm (how much people should contribute) remained similar across the waves, although the strength of these social norms were slightly greater in Wave 2. We also study whether the results from Wave 1 that should not be affected by the pandemic—the relationship between social norms and cooperation and specific behavioural types—replicate in Wave 2 and find that these results generally hold. Overall, our work demonstrates that social norms are important drivers of cooperation, yet, communicable diseases, at least in the short term, have little or no effects on either.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53427-z |
| spellingShingle | Eva Vriens Aron Szekely Francesca Lipari Alberto Antonioni Angel Sánchez Luca Tummolini Giulia Andrighetto Assessing the effects of pandemic risk on cooperation and social norms using a before-after Covid-19 comparison in two long-term experiments Scientific Reports |
| title | Assessing the effects of pandemic risk on cooperation and social norms using a before-after Covid-19 comparison in two long-term experiments |
| title_full | Assessing the effects of pandemic risk on cooperation and social norms using a before-after Covid-19 comparison in two long-term experiments |
| title_fullStr | Assessing the effects of pandemic risk on cooperation and social norms using a before-after Covid-19 comparison in two long-term experiments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the effects of pandemic risk on cooperation and social norms using a before-after Covid-19 comparison in two long-term experiments |
| title_short | Assessing the effects of pandemic risk on cooperation and social norms using a before-after Covid-19 comparison in two long-term experiments |
| title_sort | assessing the effects of pandemic risk on cooperation and social norms using a before after covid 19 comparison in two long term experiments |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53427-z |
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