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Updated: Jun 1, 2026
06:48
The HoneyComb Paradigm for Research on Collective Human Behavior
Published on: January 19, 2019
Shame and honour drive cooperation.
Jennifer Jacquet1, Christoph Hauert, Arne Traulsen
1Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. j.jacquet@fisheries.ubc.ca
Biology Letters
|June 3, 2011
Summary
Shame and honor significantly boost cooperation in public goods games. Both social motivators increased donations by 50%, highlighting their power to combat resource depletion and the tragedy of the commons.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Social Psychology
- Game Theory
Background:
- The tragedy of the commons describes resource depletion due to self-interest.
- Social reputation and non-monetary incentives are potential drivers of cooperation.
- Public goods experiments are standard for studying resource management dilemmas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if social shame and honor influence cooperation in public goods games.
- To quantify the impact of reputational incentives on contributions to a common resource.
- To assess the effectiveness of shame and honor in mitigating the tragedy of the commons.
Main Methods:
- Anonymous six-player public goods experiments were conducted.
- One condition introduced shame by exposing the least generous players.
- Another condition introduced honor by revealing the most generous players.
- Donations were compared against a control group without reputational consequences.
Main Results:
- Both shame and honor conditions resulted in approximately 50% higher donations compared to the control.
- Reputational effects, driven by social visibility, significantly increased contributions.
- Cooperation levels were substantially enhanced by both positive and negative social feedback.
Conclusions:
- The threat of shame and the prospect of honor are powerful non-monetary motivators for cooperation.
- Social reputation mechanisms can effectively increase contributions to public goods.
- Shame and honor interventions show promise in addressing the tragedy of the commons.
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