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Updated: Mar 27, 2026
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The Collective Trust Game: An Online Group Adaptation of the Trust Game Based on the HoneyComb Paradigm
Published on: October 20, 2022
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Intuition, deliberation, and the evolution of cooperation
1Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511; adam.bear@yale.edu david.rand@yale.edu.
Summary
Evolutionary game theory reveals that deliberation hinders cooperation with strangers. Selection favors either intuitive defectors or dual-process agents who use deliberation strategically to defect in one-shot games.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Game Theory
- Cognitive Science
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Human cooperation with strangers presents an evolutionary puzzle.
- Dual-process theories explore cognitive underpinnings of social decision-making, contrasting intuitive and deliberative processes.
- Existing models often examine cooperation's ultimate evolutionary drivers or proximate cognitive mechanisms separately.
Purpose of the Study:
- To integrate ultimate evolutionary explanations with proximate dual-process cognitive frameworks for cooperation.
- To formally model the evolution of cooperation using game theory with agents employing intuitive or deliberative strategies.
- To investigate the role of deliberation in fostering or hindering cooperation under varying game structures.
Main Methods:
- Developed a game-theoretic model of the evolution of cooperation based on the prisoner's dilemma.
- Agents could respond intuitively or incur a cost to deliberate and adapt their strategy.
- Simulated one-shot and reciprocal game scenarios to assess strategy selection.
- Incorporated assortment and reciprocity levels as key parameters.
Main Results:
- Selection favored either intuitive defectors or dual-process agents.
- Dual-process agents cooperated intuitively but deliberated to defect in one-shot games.
- Deliberation was never favored for overriding selfish impulses; it consistently undermined cooperation with strangers.
- The optimal strategy depended on reciprocity levels and agent assortment.
Conclusions:
- Deliberation in social decision-making does not necessarily enhance cooperation and can undermine it.
- Formalizing dual-process cognition within evolutionary game theory clarifies the role of deliberation in cooperation.
- Findings reconcile conflicting empirical results and offer insights into human social cognition and decision-making.
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