title: The dynamics of human behavior in the public goods game with institutional incentives.
abstract: The empirical research on the public goods game (PGG) indicates that both institutional rewards and institutional punishment can curb free-riding and that the punishment effect is stronger than the reward effect. Self-regarding models that are based on Nash equilibrium (NE) strategies or evolutionary game dynamics correctly predict which incentives are best at promoting cooperation, but individuals do not play these rational strategies overall. The goal of our study is to investigate the dynamics of human decision making in the repeated PGG with institutional incentives. We consider that an individual's contribution is affected by four factors, which are self-interest, the behavior of others, the reaction to rewards, and the reaction to punishment. We find that people on average do not react to rewards and punishment, and that self-interest and the behavior of others sufficiently explain the dynamics of human behavior. Further analysis suggests that institutional incentives promote cooperation by affecting the self-regarding preference and that the other-regarding preference seems to be independent of incentive schemes. Because individuals do not change their behavioral patterns even if they were not rewarded or punished, the mere potential to punish defectors and reward cooperators can lead to considerable increases in the level of cooperation.
authors.affiliation: School of Statistics and Institute of National Accounts, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yali
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Mathematics and Complex Systems, Ministry of Education, School of Mathematical Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Boyu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Animal Ecology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tao
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D005716:Game Theory; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D011336:Probability; D011678:Punishment; D012201:Reward; D012919:Social Behavior; D018910:Video Games