People are more generous and cooperative than you might think

COLOGNE: As it turns out, human beings may be more generous and cooperative than we give them credit for.

A major international study has found that most people are willing to act for a common good, even when they assume others will not do the same.

The study, published in the journal Science, involved more than 100,000 people across 125 nationally representative samples, making it one of the largest investigations of human cooperation ever conducted.

Researchers from Germany said the findings offer an encouraging view of human nature at a time when public discourse often focuses on division, distrust and self-interest.

“Our results send an encouraging message: we are a more cooperative species than we think,” the research team summarised.

To reach this conclusion, participants were anonymously paired with another person from their own country and asked to choose between two options.

One option guaranteed them a personal payout of US$100. The other offered only US$70 – but if both participants independently chose that option, an additional US$400 would be donated to climate-change initiatives.

In other words, participants had to decide whether to maximise their own reward or accept less money to support a wider social benefit.

Across all countries surveyed, an average of 69% chose the cooperative option.

Yet when asked to predict how others would behave, respondents expected only 47% of people to do the same.

That gap between perception and reality appeared almost everywhere: in 124 of the 125 countries studied, researchers found that people underestimated the willingness of others to cooperate.

The tendency was particularly pronounced in Germany, according to the study.

The experts said such misperceptions matter because cooperation plays an important role in tackling shared challenges, from climate change and public health crises to community wellbeing.

Overall, the findings suggest there may be more trust, generosity and willingness to work together in society than many realise; but if people believe others are unwilling to contribute, they may be less likely to cooperate themselves.