Patterns of cooperation during collective emergencies in the help-or-escape social dilemma.

ABSTRACT: Although cooperation is central to the organisation of many social systems, relatively little is known about cooperation in situations of collective emergency. When groups of people flee from a danger such as a burning building or a terrorist attack, the collective benefit of cooperation is important, but the cost of helping is high and the temptation to defect is strong. To explore the degree of cooperation in emergencies, we develop a new social game, the help-or-escape social dilemma. Under time and monetary pressure, players decide how much risk they are willing to take in order to help others. Results indicated that players took as much risk to help others during emergencies as they did under normal conditions. In both conditions, most players applied an egalitarian heuristic and help

SUBMITTER: Moussaid M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5024123 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature