Cooperation eases our way in the world, contributing to extraordinary and mundane human achievements alike. Yet even the nicest do-gooders sometimes act with self-interest. A study published recently in Nature sought to understand the mental processes that tip a person from generous to greedy. “By default are we selfish animals who have to exert willpower in order to cooperate?” asks David Rand, a psychologist at Harvard University who led the study. “Or are we predisposed to cooperate, but when we stop to think about it the greedy calculus of self-interest takes over?”

To peer into this aspect of human nature, Rand and his colleagues gave study participants 40 cents, then asked them to decide how much to keep for themselves and how much to donate to a common pool that would later be doubled and split evenly among those who donated. Those who quickly made up their minds donated more than those who took longer, suggesting that quick decisions based on intuition were more generous than slower, deliberative decisions.

In a follow-up study, researchers prompted participants either to trust their instincts or to mull them over when deciding. Consistent with the earlier finding, donations were higher for the intuition group.

This result suggests that our first impulse is to cooperate, but it does not necessarily mean we are genetically hardwired to do so, Rand says. Instead it may reflect a habit learned from a lifetime of fruitful cooperative experiences. The work also suggests that donation seekers would do well to leave their facts and statistics behind when courting potential donors—that pitch could backfire by promoting a ruminative, miserly mind-set.

This article was originally published with the title Rational Thought Can Override a Generous Intuition.

4 Comments

1. 1. helenavargas 10:57 AM 3/31/13

   Since I'm unable to penetrate Nature's pay wall, I'm obliged to comment on this brief summary of the research. Couple of points: $0.40 doesn't seem like enough to trigger any response, neither generosity nor 'thoughtful' miserliness; and the mere act of suggesting that one pause and think things over before being generous strongly suggests to the subjects that a generous intuition is not thoughtful and needs to be reconsidered -- that is, "If you really think it through, you won't be so generous. Your generous intuition is just not rational."
   Based on this bare summary of the research, I can see nothing new here nor anything particularly revealing. But then, the journal Nature makes sure I can't afford to access the details.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. WRQ9 02:08 PM 3/31/13

   In my experience, both naturally generous, and naturally greedy exist. There seems to be enough popular balance nationally to confuse many of us. Many who are not generous naturally still prefer to be thought of that way, and that complicates it more. There are those also, poor and generous and tired of being taken advantage of.
   Even the auditing of an individual's generosity would be controversial enough as to automatically take on a political tone. Some are in fact generous beyond reason, and indeed, psychologically self destructive. Greed also can frequently reflect the symptoms of mental illness.
   What concerns me is a national pathos, divested of a sense of healthy wealth and it's proper reflection of circumstance. This is not a good thing. Also a narcissistic movement willing to take advantage of both essential qualities by destructive means for short gains. The rubber bands holding it all together are typically maladjusted, I suppose due to an oversimplification of actual circumstances.
   We are now a culture of demagogues awash in a sea of toxic opinion. Nobody dares to step out of character long enough to effect useful change.
   Andy Warhol and Carl Rove are the inventors of "modern society" I suppose they thought they were empowering the simple majorities individually, but I don't believe such a thing exists. What they did was empower irrational thought, and popularize the abandonment of the only working sense of reason we had ever been able to muster.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

3. 3. TTLG 12:27 PM 4/1/13

   It seems to me that rational thought and cooperative instincts should not necessarily be at odds with each other. The success of the human species is based on cooperation. Whether hunting mammoths or building automobiles, cooperation and trust that the other person is doing his job is necessary to success. When selfishness triumphs over cooperation is when groups, whether companies or societies, fall apart.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

4. 4. bucketofsquid 06:12 PM 4/10/13

   Maybe the impulsively generous are just better at math. Maybe if they made their contributions in front of the group the generous would identify the greedy and beat them until they give more and thus increase the total gain for everyone.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this