Leiden University Student Repository

Lof, Floor van der (2023)

The effect of environmental uncertainty on the relationship between trust and cooperation in social dilemmas: Uncertainty about the cooperativeness of contributing in a public good game

Master thesis | Psychology (MSc)

In the current study it is investigated whether environmental uncertainty influences the effect of generalized trust on cooperation. The expectations were that higher generalized trust would be related to higher cooperation, and that this positive relationship would be even stronger when uncertainty about the cooperativeness of contributing would be introduced. The reasoning was that the environmental uncertainty would make the decision situation ‘weaker’ (i.e., vague or no cues for appropriate behavior in the situation), and therefore individuals would rely more heavily on dispositional traits. We tested this by presenting participants with public good games with and without uncertainty. While the first expectation was met, the results did not corroborate our reasoning of the second expectation. Thus, generalized trust proved to be a stable predictor for cooperation. However, it did not become stronger when uncertainty about the cooperativeness of contributing was introduced.

Cooperation

Trust

Public Good Game

Environmental Uncertainty

Author

Lof, Floor van der

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Economic and Consumer Psychology

Supervisors

Molenmaker, W.E.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en