Scarcity and Cooperation: The Modulation of Social Norms

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Perceived scarcity's influence on human cooperation is significant but yields mixed research results.
• Understanding the scarcity-cooperation dynamic is critical in various social contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how a scarcity mindset impacts cooperation across different social normative contexts.
• To clarify inconsistencies in previous research on scarcity and cooperation.

Main Methods:

• Participants were assigned scarcity or abundance mindsets.
• Engaged in a Public Goods Game under descriptive or injunctive norms (high/low prosocial expectations).

Main Results:

• Scarcity mindset individuals showed greater cooperation than abundance mindset individuals.
• Higher cooperation was observed under high prosocial norms compared to low prosocial norms.
• Scarcity mindset significantly boosted cooperation under high prosocial norms, but not low ones.

Conclusions:

• Robust prosocial norms amplify cooperation in individuals with a scarcity mindset.
• Leveraging social norms is key to enhancing cooperation in resource-scarce situations.
• Findings offer new insights into the scarcity-cooperation relationship.