How observing others’ behavior can increase cooperation | National Academy of Sciences

How observing others’ behavior can increase cooperation | National Academy of Sciences:

"The scientists targeted residents of 15 homeowners associations in Santa Clara County in California, asking people to volunteer in the program via flyers. Sign-up sheets were posted in communal areas near homes, such as shared mailbox kiosks. The researchers varied whether these public posted sheets required residents either to print their names or only a randomly generated code. Participants were not aware they were taking part in an experiment.

Residents who could see what their neighbors did were nearly three times more likely to participate in the program than residents who could not. This effect was nearly seven times greater than offering a $25 incentive for signing up, the company’s previous policy.\

“We all kind of knew that reputation would matter for these kinds of things, but what was surprising was how big that effect was compared to financial incentives,” said study coauthor Moshe Hoffman, an economist at the University of California, San Diego. “It was just so big an effect for so little cost.”

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