Abstract
When group members share their resources equally, regardless of their contribution to the collective group outcomes, equity norms may be violated. Some individuals may use the opportunity to take a free ride and as a result others will be put in the position of suckers. The equal division rule, however, has a clear advantage that has received little theoretical and empirical attention. Sharing with others reduces the risk associated with individual outcome in an uncertain environment and thus has the effect of insurance. We report an experiment in which we examined subjects’ willingness to share with others as a function of environmental uncertainty and personal risk preferences. Specifically, each subject had to choose between an individual lottery and an equal share of a combined group lottery. We found that, when uncertain about their own outcome, risk-averse individuals prefer the less risky group option, whereas risk-seeking individuals prefer to take their own risk. Assuming that in real-life situations people are typically risk-averse, we conclude that the desire to reduce uncertainty concerning one’s outcomes indeed motivates people to pool their risks with other group members.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bishop, Y.M.M., Feinberg, S.E., & Holland, P.W. (1975). Discrete multivariate analysis: Theory and practice. Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press.
Cashdan, E. (1985). Coping with risk: Reciprocity among the Basarwa of Northern Botswana. Man, 20, 454–474.
Haberman, S.J. (1978). Analysis of qualitative data Vol. 1. London: Academic Press.
Hiatt, L. (1982). Traditional attitudes to land resources. In R. M. Berndt (Ed.) Aboriginal sites: Rites and resource development. Perth: University of Western Australia Press.
Ingold, T. (1983). The significance of storage in hunting societies. Man, 18, 553–517.
Lenderink, T.B., Meertens, R.M., & Vlek, C.A.J. (1995). Motieven voor persoonlijke en interpersoonlijke risiokeuzes. In: N.K. de Vries, C.K.W, de Dreu, N. Ellemers, & R. Vonk (Eds.) Fundamentele Sociale Psychologie Deel 9, pp. 209–220. Tilburg: Tilburg University Press.
Messick, D. M., & Brewer, M. B. (1983). Solving social dilemmas: A review. In L. Wheeler and P. Shaver (Eds.), Review of personality and Social psychology Vol. 4, pp. 11–44. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Messick, D.M., Allison, S.T., & Samuelson, C.D. (1988). Framing and communication effects on group members’ responses to environmental and social uncertainty. In: S. Maital (Ed.) Applied Behavioural Economics Vol. 2, pp. 677–700. New York: New York University Press.
Peterson, N. (1993). Demand Sharing: Reciprocity and the pressure for generosity among foragers. American Anthropologist, 95, 860–874. Sahlin
Sahlins, M. (1972). Stone Age economics. Chicago: Aldine.
Selten, R., and Ockenfels, A. (1995). An experimental solidarity game. Fourth Amsterdam Workshop on Experimental Economics, 429–444.
Suleiman, R., & Rapoport, A. (1988). Environmental and social uncertainty in single-trial resource dilemmas. 11th Conference on: Subjective probability, utility and decision making. Acta Psychologica, 68, 99–112.
Tversky A., and Kahneman D. (1986). Rational choice and the framing of decisions. Journal of Business, 59, 251–278.
Yamagishi, T. (1988). Seriousness of social dilemmas and the provision of a sanctioning system. Social Psychology Quarterly, 51, 32–42.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Wilke, M., Rutte, C.G., Bornstein, G. (1996). Reduction of Environmental Risk as a Public Good. In: Liebrand, W.B.G., Messick, D.M. (eds) Frontiers in Social Dilemmas Research. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-85261-9_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-85261-9_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-85263-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-85261-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive