88-117: Social Dilemmas from Overpopulation to Global Warming
Social dilemmas are situations in which a number of people make simultaneous choices between what is roughly termed ¿cooperative¿ versus ¿non-cooperative¿ behavior where the individual payoffs for the non-cooperative choice are always higher than for the non-cooperative choice ¿ no matter what other people involved in the decision do. Yet universal cooperation is preferred to universal non-cooperation by all the people making choices. The first part of the seminar will be devoted to reading the classic theoretical arguments about social dilemmas, and to the surveying some of the empirical findings of social psychologists such as Dawes about what variables other than payoff changes might enhance the probability of cooperative choices, e.g., ¿identification with the group¿. After becoming familiar with the theoretical and empirical literature, the members of the seminar will be asked to give presentations concerning either their own ideas or the ideas of some other theorist or investigator about how to enhance the incidence of cooperative choice. Each member of the seminar will be expected to lead one session presenting such ideas and to write a term paper about them.
| A | TR | 01:30 pm - 02:50 pm | PH A19 | Dawes |