Under Watchful Eyes: In-Group Observation Promotes Intergroup Cooperation in Natural Groups
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Series
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Speaker(s)Juliane Koch (Lund University, Sweden)
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FieldSpatial Economics
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LocationTinbergen Institute Amsterdam, room 1.01
Amsterdam -
Date and time
October 09, 2025
12:00 - 13:00
Promoting cooperation between different groups remains one of society's biggest challenges. We examine whether such intergroup cooperation can be fostered through in-group observation, using a lab-in-the-field experiment in Papua New Guinea. Our key result is that observation by an in-group member increases the share of people who cooperate with members of other communities from 17 percent to 70 percent, thereby eliminating the in-group bias in cooperation. We relate this to a shared understanding among participants that intergroup cooperation is socially desirable. Our findings suggest that policymakers, communities, and organizations may leverage in-group observation to improve intergroup cooperation.