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Human behaviour

A cooperative instinct

Nature volume 489, pages 374–375 (2012)Cite this article

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Acting on a gut feeling can sometimes lead to poor decisions. But it will usually support the common good, according to a study showing that human intuition favours cooperative, rather than selfish, behaviour. See Letter p. 427

In a recent bestselling book, psychologist and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman presents a wealth of evidence that much of human decision-making is governed by fast and automatic intuitions, rather than by slow, effortful thinking1. Intuitions can sometimes lead us astray, such as when it comes to processing statistical information, but our 'gut feelings' also serve us well in many common situations. One interesting question to ask is how intuition influences social decisions that pit self-interest against collective benefit. Does intuition support cooperation, or do people need time to reflect before deciding to pull their weight? On page 427 of this issue, Rand et al.2 present evidence that the intuitive human reaction is to cooperate, whereas reasoning makes people somewhat more selfish.

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  1. Simon Gächter is in the Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.,

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Gächter, S. A cooperative instinct. Nature 489, 374–375 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/489374a

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