Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37833250›Full record

ArticleNature communications2023

Partner choice and cooperation in social dilemmas can increase resource inequality.

Mirre Stallen, Luuk L Snijder, Jörg Gross, Leon P Hilbert, Carsten K W De Dreu

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
4.9field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. The dynamics of cooperation in asymmetric public goods games.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
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  6. Similarities in mindset between adolescents' friends and cooperation partners.Social psychology of education : an international journal · 2025
    Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Mirre Stallen *Social, Economic and Organisational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7121-1855
Luuk L Snijder *Social, Economic and Organisational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. l.snijder@fsw.leidenuniv.nl.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3941-1056
Jörg GrossInstitute of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5403-9475
Leon P HilbertInstitute of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4366-9332
Carsten K W De DreuSocial, Economic and Organisational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3692-4611
Leiden University · NLUniversity of Amsterdam · NLUniversity of Zurich · CH

Funding

European Research Council AdG agreement n° 785635
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cooperation is more likely when individuals can choose their interaction partner. However, partner choice may be detrimental in unequal societies, in which individuals differ in available resources and productivity, and thus in their attractiveness as interaction partners. Here we experimentally examine this conjecture in a repeated public goods game. Individuals (n = 336), participating in groups of eight participants, are assigned a high or low endowment and a high or low productivity factor (the value that their cooperation generates), creating four unique participant types. On each round, individuals are either assigned a partner (assigned partner condition) or paired based on their self-indicated preference for a partner type (partner choice condition). Results show that under partner choice, individuals who were assigned a high endowment and high productivity almost exclusively interact with each other, forcing other individuals into less valuable pairs. Consequently, pre-existing resource differences between individuals increase. These findings show how partner choice in social dilemmas can amplify resource inequality.

Indexed as

Cooperative BehaviorEfficiencyHumans

Identifiers

PMID37833250
PMCPMC10575984
OpenAlexW4387610281

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.