Themen für Bachelorarbeiten

Beschreibung: Cooperation and working together enable groups to achieve more than individuals alone could. Yet, achieving cooperation is far from straightforward. Cooperation can be defined as the willingness to incur personal costs - whether in terms of time, effort, or resources - to create benefits for all members of a group. While mutual cooperation generates welfare that exceeds what individuals could achieve alone, it also introduces the temptation to free-ride. If others are cooperating, why not simply free-ride on their efforts, enjoying the benefits without sharing the burden? Conversely, if others are free-riding, why pay the costs to create benefits for others, especially if those efforts are not reciprocated but exploited? This dilemma, comprehensively captured in game-theoretic models such as the Prisoner's Dilemma and Public Goods Game, raises a fundamental question: how does cooperation emerge?
One mechanism for sustaining cooperation, that has been extensively discussed in both the empirical and theoretical literature, is the threat of ostracism. If free-riders can be excluded from the group, cooperation can be maintained, as long as the costs of exclusion are high enough to deter selfish behavior.

The goal of this bachelor thesis is to (a) compile empirical and theoretical findings on the effectiveness and conditions of ostracism to sustain group cooperation, (b) summarize these findings in a review article, and (c) discuss our current understanding of this mechanism, including potential blind spots that could inspire further research.

Criteria
The bachelor thesis will take the form of a review article, adhering to scientific standards.
To achieve this, you are required to gather relevant peer-reviewed scientific articles and develop a coherent, logical structure to present the findings of this field to the reader. Your thesis should meaningfully connect these findings, critically reflect on them, and identify potential gaps in our knowledge, offering suggestions for future research to address these gaps.

The bachelor thesis may be written in either English or German.


Initial References

Ali, S. N., & Miller, D. A. (2016). Ostracism and forgiveness. American Economic Review, 106(8), 2329-2348.

Balliet, D., & Ferris, D. L. (2013). Ostracism and prosocial behavior: A social dilemma perspective. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 120(2), 298-308.

Feinberg, M., Willer, R., & Schultz, M. (2014). Gossip and ostracism promote cooperation in groups. Psychological Science, 25(3), 656-664.

Hirshleifer, D., & Rasmusen, E. (1989). Cooperation in a repeated prisoners' dilemma with ostracism. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 12(1), 87-106.

Maier-Rigaud, F. P., Martinsson, P., & Staffiero, G. (2010). Ostracism and the provision of a public good: Experimental evidence. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 73(3), 387-395.

Walasek, L., Juanchich, M., & Sirota, M. (2019). Adaptive cooperation in the face of social exclusion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 82, 35-46.

Williams, K. D. (2007). Ostracism. Annual Review of Psychology, 58(1), 425-452.

Kontakt: Jörg Gross, E-Mail

Beschreibung: Humans are widely regarded as champions of cooperation. Our cognitive abilities, empathetic concerns, and language faculties not only enable but may have evolved to support an unparalleled level of coordination and collaboration, making cooperation the "secret of our success."
While cooperation is typically seen as a net positive, enabling groups to achieve more than individuals could alone, it can also have a darker side. Cooperation can sustain coercion, corruption, or practices that harm others. For example, members of a Mafia organization cooperate to take advantage of others. Military conflicts between nations rely on strong internal cooperation, and in some cases, intense social pressure enforces conformity and cooperation within groups, as seen in religious sects, for example.

The goal of this bachelor thesis is to (a) compile recent empirical findings on the negative aspects of human cooperation, (b) summarize these findings in a review article, and (c) discuss our current understanding of this perspective, including potential blind spots that could inspire further research.

Criteria
The bachelor thesis will take the form of a review article, adhering to scientific standards.
To achieve this, you are required to gather relevant peer-reviewed scientific articles and develop a coherent, logical structure to present the findings of this field to the reader. Your thesis should meaningfully connect these findings, critically reflect on them, and identify potential gaps in our knowledge, offering suggestions for future research to address these gaps.

The bachelor thesis may be written in either English or German.

Initial References
Bowles, S. (2008). Being human: Conflict: Altruism?s midwife. Nature, 456(7220), 326?327. https://doi.org/10.1038/456326a
Choi, J.-K., & Bowles, S. (2007). The coevolution of parochial altruism and war. Science, 318(5850), 636?640. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1144237
Fu, F., Tarnita, C. E., Christakis, N. A., Wang, L., Rand, D. G., & Nowak, M. A. (2012). Evolution of in-group favoritism. Scientific Reports, 2(1), 460. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep00460
Milinski, M. (2022). Extortion ? A voracious prosocial strategy. Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 196?201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.033
Przepiorka, W., Norbutas, L., & Corten, R. (2017). Order without law: Reputation promotes cooperation in a cryptomarket for illegal drugs. European Sociological Review, 33(6), 752?764. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcx072
Rand, D. G., & Nowak, M. A. (2013). Human cooperation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17(8), 413?425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2013.06.003
Snijder, L. L., Gross, J., Stallen, M., & Dreu, C. K. W. D. (2024). Prosocial preferences can escalate intergroup conflicts by countering selfish motivations to leave. Nature Communications, 15(1), 9009. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53409-9
Stewart, A. J., & Raihani, N. (2023). Group reciprocity and the evolution of stereotyping. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 290(1991), 20221834. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1834
Stallen, M., Snijder, L. L., Gross, J., Hilbert, L. P., & Dreu, C. K. W. D. (2023). Partner choice and cooperation in social dilemmas can increase resource inequality. Nature Communications, 14(1), 6432. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42128-2
Szekely, A., Andrighetto, G., Payette, N., & Tummolini, L. (2020). Aggression, conflict, and the formation of intimidating group reputation. Social Psychology Quarterly, 83(1), 70?87. https://doi.org/10.1177/0190272519882389
The Guardian. (2022, October 24). The big idea: Is cooperation always a force for good? Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/24/the-big-idea-is-cooperation-always-a-force-for-good
Weisel, O., & Shalvi, S. (2015). The collaborative roots of corruption. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(34), 10651?10656. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1423035112

Kontakt: Jörg Gross, E-Mail