Balancing selfishness and norm conformity can explain human behavior in large-scale Prisoner's Dilemma games and can poise human groups near criticality

TL;DR

This paper introduces a model combining economic incentives and social norms to explain human cooperation in large-scale Prisoner's Dilemma games, revealing that human groups operate near criticality for optimal responsiveness.

Contribution

The paper develops an analytically-tractable model integrating social norms and economic rewards, aligning with experimental data and revealing criticality in human group behavior.

Findings

Model matches experimental observations of human cooperation.

Human groups are near a critical point for optimal response.

The phase diagram shows conditions for cooperation and criticality.

Abstract

Cooperation is central to the success of human societies as it is crucial for overcoming some of the most pressing social challenges of our time. Yet how human cooperation is achieved and may persist is still a main puzzle in the social and biological sciences. Recently, scholars have recognized the importance of social norms as solutions to major local and large-scale collective action problems, from the management of water resources to the reduction of smoking in public places to the change in fertility practices. Yet a well-founded model of the effect of social norms on human cooperation is still lacking. Using statistical physics techniques and integrating findings from cognitive and behavioral sciences, we present an analytically-tractable model in which individuals base their decisions to cooperate both on the economic rewards they obtain and on the degree to which their action comply with social norms. Results from this parsimonious model are in agreement with what has been observed in recent large-scale experiments with humans. We also find the phase diagram of the model and show that the experimental human group is poised near a critical point, a regime where recent work suggests living systems respond to changing external conditions in an efficient and coordinated manner.