AbstractsPsychology

The public goods game (PGG) has been a useful tool for providing insight into cooperation in social dilemmas. Heterogeneity in cooperation suggests that individual difference variables may have predictive value. I hypothesized that social axioms, defined as generalized beliefs about the social world, and the five-factor model personality traits would predict earlier contributions in an iterated PGG, while feedback about others??? contributions may become more important in the later rounds. Participants (n = 136) played ten rounds of PGG in three conditions ??? cooperative, selfish, or realistic ??? created by using false feedback. Participants also completed the Social Axioms Survey (SAS) and the Big Five Inventory (BFI). Results indicated that the ten-factor model best predicted cooperation in the early rounds of the realistic condition. Cooperation was a function of religiosity in the selfish condition.