Abstract:

Cooperation and self-interest are individuals’ basic behavioral patterns in situations of conflicting interests. Within the rationality framework of economics, selfish behavior is viewed as human being’s instinct reaction. However, recent opinions claim that cooperation is an automatic reaction by nature. Theories and researches on unconsciousness, cognitive capacity, and ego depletion, as well as evidences from neurosciences studies, have verified that complicated social behaviors such as cooperation can be automatically activated. Future studies should further demonstrate whether self-interest or cooperation is automatic, and reveal psychological mechanisms of automaticity of social cooperation and its conditions.

Key words: social cooperation, conflicting interests, unconsciousness, cognitive capacity, self-regulation