Project

The way out of global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or climate change, is only possible through human cooperation across borders and societies. How can people be convinced to cooperate for the benefit of all, instead of maximizing their short-term self-interest?

The COVID-19 pandemic does not only have an impact on us as individuals, but also on the economy, healthcare systems, and society.

To an unprecedented extent, societies around the world are required to be considerate of one another, putting their basic needs such as the desire for social interaction on hold for years in order to protect vulnerable members of the community. 

How can members of different societies be persuaded to protect others at their own expense? 

Seen abstractly, crises are a problem of intergroup interactions. Much research has been devoted to in-group bias (favoritism), the tendency to give preferential treatment to others who belong to the same (social, ethnic, national, ...) group as oneself.

When solving globally complex challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, this bias needs to be overcome to enable conscientious and prosocial decision-making.

Our research targets the question what kinds of information are considered by decision makers and how they weigh it while deciding whether to help in-group, ignore the out-group, or even engage in harmful behavior toward the out-group.

We conduct empirical studies, aiming to contribute to the question of how global challenges can be understood as issues of cooperation in intergroup contexts and to derive impulses that can provide a basis for future management of crises of this magnitude.

The method of choice to shed light on the processes underlying cooperative and self-interested decisions is eye-tracking. 

Data will be collected online.