With loneliness on the rise, there is a profound sense that society has become more insular, and perhaps even more selfish. A new study from the American Psychological Association suggests those fears are overblown, and that cooperation among strangers has actually risen since the 1950s.
“We were surprised by our findings that Americans became more cooperative over the last six decades because many people believe U.S. society is becoming less socially connected, less trusting and less committed to the common good,” the researchers explain. “Greater cooperation within and between societies may help us tackle global challenges, such as responses to pandemics, climate change and immigrant crises.”
Assessing cooperation
The researchers looked at over 500 studies undertaken in the US between 1956 and 2017 that involved over 63,000 participants between them. Each of the studies involved various lab experiments designed to measure cooperation among strangers.
While not huge, the study found a gradual increase in cooperation across the 61 years of the study. The researchers believe this is perhaps due to shifts in American society during that time, such as increases in societal wealth urbanization, income inequality, and even the number of people living alone.
While this is very much a case of correlation rather than causation, the authors also suggest that increased market competitiveness might have played a role as this will have encouraged people to cooperate with strangers more.
“It’s possible that people gradually learn to broaden their cooperation with friends and acquaintances to strangers, which is called for in more urban, anonymous societies,” they suggest. “U.S. society may have become more individualistic, but people have not.”
Another significant caveat is that the studies were typically undertaken both in lab conditions and using college students as participants, so it is somewhat questionable how well they can be applied to society more broadly. The studies also failed to really explore other societal factors, such as trust between strangers, which can impact levels of cooperation. This is perhaps important as other studies have suggested a general fall in trust over the same timeframe assessed in the research.
“One intriguing implication of these findings is that while Americans’ cooperation has increased over time, their beliefs about others’ willingness to cooperate has actually declined,” the authors conclude.
