CeDEx Seminar - Simon Gaechter (University of Nottingham)

Bridging the lab and the field: The behavioural principles of cooperation in lab and naturally occurring public goods 

(joint with Eugene Malthouse and Sid Sherborne)

Abstract: Laboratory public goods experiments have revealed robust patterns of cooperation, but how well these generalize to real-world behavior remains unclear. We examine this link by comparing lab-based and naturally occurring cooperation in an online sample of University of Nottingham students (n = 994). Participants made contributions in both a standard lab public goods game and a real donation to a reforestation charity. Contributions across contexts correlated modestly (r = 0.29). Using the CRISP framework (Gächter et al., Nature Human Behaviour, 2025), we find strong behavioral parallels, with the main difference being higher unconditional cooperation in the charity setting. Despite differing attitudes and beliefs, the ABC framework predicts contributions equally well in both contexts. Together, our results as revealed by the CRISP and ABC frameworks help bridge the gap between lab and field in understanding human cooperation.