Psychology of Cooperation

Catalog description

Human cooperation is unique in the animal kingdom in terms of both its scale and its complexity. This course will delve deeper into this key phenomenon, examining the psychology of cooperative interactions through biological, evolutionary, cross-cultural, and developmental lenses. Students will explore topics related to how cooperation has evolved, the role of culture in shaping cooperative behavior, how these behaviors develop, and the mechanisms that both support and threaten cooperation. Graduate students will: have more in-depth and extended weekly response requirements, with 500 words per response; prepare a formal pre-registration for their experimental protocols; complete five essay prompts, rather than three, for their take-home final.