Group composition and conditional cooperation

This paper examines how group composition affects conditional cooperation in public good games. Identity was created using a team-building activity and subjects were assigned to groups of six with varying proportions of subjects from two teams. Majority members contributed more to the public good than minority members. However, contributions were mainly related to beliefs about the contributions of others, especially others from the same teams, rather than minority/majority status.

► Majority members cooperate more than minority members. ► Conditional cooperation is strong among those with the same affiliations. ► Conditional cooperation among those with different affiliations depends on majority/minority status within the group.