Social norms and cooperation in social dilemmas: the effects of context and feedback

Individuals tend to be more competitive in making decisions over social dilemmas that involve economic context, than those who are confronted with noneconomic decisions. An analysis involving 195 undergraduate students revealed that people are likely to compete and cooperate more during events when prior contenders competed unexpectedly in the same situation. It was further established that competitive behavior manifested in noneconomic decisions generates considerable effect on subsequent behavior.