Prosocial: Using Evolutionary Science to Build Productive, Equitable, and Collaborative Groups

by Paul W.B. Atkins

your group’s approach to decision making must be helpful for its context.

We are literally at the beginning of an age when a global commons might be possible, where humanity might choose to create, test, and refine previously unimaginable new models of collective decision making that empower, include, and enable.

core design principle 2 is about distributive fairness, core design principle 3 is focused on procedural fairness, specifically, involving in decision making those who are affected by the decisions.

We use the term “monitoring” to describe observing with intent to coordinate behavior.

when we use “monitoring,” we really just mean transparency of behavior—all members being able to see or notice what others are doing in the group.

Noticing others’ behavior improves not only coordination, but also motivation.

The aim of monitoring is to capitalize on the positive reinforcement arising from cooperation rather than the negative processes of coercion and control.

this principle is about transparency, caring about and noticing the work of others, not introducing a dead hand of control.

care about our reputations in the eyes of others

Having systems in place that allow people to talk about what they’re doing builds a sense of belonging and shared identity in groups.

Organizational hierarchies that reinforce compliance and fail to reward creativity, initiative, and personal responsibility for decision making undermine these positive behaviors.

the most effective examples of monitoring of agreed-upon behaviors were framed in terms of support, learning, and continual improvement.

the formal and informal processes we put in place to respond to behavior should be focused on creating cooperation to move a group toward its shared purpose, not on controlling people.

People are more cooperative when opportunities to punish uncooperative behavior are present than when they’re absent,

members will lose faith in the capacity of the group to avoid being undermined by self-interest.

there’s more trust in groups when there are clear and reliable consequences for misbehavior, because people know they are less likely to be exploited.

off the northeast coast of the United States, lobster fishermen who place their pots in spaces reserved for others will soon find their floats decorated with frilly pink bows—a

they’re being ridiculed.

if the sanction is focused on the person rather than the behavior, or if the sanction seems unfair, excessive, inconsistent, or indiscriminate.

because sanctions are focused on what the person should not do rather than on what they should do, they may lead to undesired behaviors, such as a person gaming the system to avoid punishment while still not engaging in helpful behaviors.

it’s important to also encourage “toward” behaviors wherever possible

people often associate extrinsic rewards (rewards that aren’t integral to the task itself) with someone else seeking to control their behavior.

When the personal needs, values, and interests of members of the group are well understood by others, it is easier for those others to respond appropriately to support cooperation.

he has a hard time controlling his anger even though he is sincerely trying to do so,

James' bursts of anger are probably followed by a lot of apologizing. Since he is having a hard time controlling his anger, it may be easier for him to control the apology (and feeling bad) stage. Next time, after an angry burst, James should try to apologize less and spend some energy in congratulating himself for not apologizing so much. If it am work out, this will become a virtuous cycle of fewer, less intense, and shorter bursts of anger.

Competition can drive group members to focus on individual rewards, diminishing the effort they put into working toward a shared purpose

This can lead to people wasting time advertising their achievements or, worse, hiding their mistakes and failures, thereby further diminishing honesty, trust, and shared learning within the group.

Focusing responding on behaviors and achievements that support shared purpose and identity, equity, and inclusiveness bolste...

Sanctions and reinforcement work more effectively when all the other within-group core design principles (1 through 6) are in place, because they keep the focus on the steps that lead to success of the group as a whole.

sanctions are only justified when an individual’s behavior works against the shared purpose.

by changing the meaning of their work

everyone should be encouraged to take responsibility for sanctioning misbehavior

China,

Uh? There seems to be some confusion here between trust in very small, familiar groups and trust at the workplace. I don't know where China, the PRC, is when it comes to the formee, but it is near the bottom of the latter type of trust.

The positive effects of rewards are enhanced, and their negative effects are less likely to occur, when rewards are equitably distributed (core design principle 2), and when the group supports its members’ individual autonomy by including them in the decisions about how to allocate rewards (core design principle 3).

When helpful behavior is regularly noticed (core design principle 4) and responded to (core design principle 5), it becomes part of the culture of the group as a whole, and the social environment itself becomes more trust based.

we’ve found that fear of conflict often drives either excessively harsh or excessively avoidant responses to unhelpful behaviors.

we can never assume that a particular behavior will be reinforcing.

We often use the matrix to explore responding to helpful and unhelpful behavior separately, because the values and concerns are often quite different.

The typical issues that stop people from responding constructively to unhelpful behavior include a sense that they don’t know what to do, that the response might escalate conflict, that responding is not the person’s role, or the plain old fear of confrontation and social disapproval.

Group members often raise issues such as believing that it’s insincere to congratulate someone, or that acknowledgement isn’t required when a person is simply doing something that’s part of their job description, or that responding positively will take too long and detract from the “main work” of the group.

or a pay raise—whatever the person values.

Psychological flexibility can only show up within flexible policies, designed by the very people that these policies affect.

To the extent that each member of the group knows what other group members care about, they are in a better position to provide reinforcement.

Do you want to emphasize a standardized set of rules that people can rely upon to be applied universally, or do you want to be more responsive to individual circumstances, perhaps risking perceptions of unfairness?

This is a significant part of learning to behave as an adult in the workplace which leads to all kinds goodness to society and the world.

This is not always easy to do.

designed to minimize any kind of responding that will expose us to pain.

Or as Ender said, "No, you don't understand. I destroy them. I make it impossible for them to ever hurt me again. I grind them and grind them until they don't exist." Ender & Valentine, Ch. 13: Valentine

It is important to separate out evaluations that are subjective from actual observations.

"Actual observation" is yet a subjective observation by another name.

“Would everybody agree on this as a fact?”

"Does everybody agree to see.this the same way?" Is yet, again, a subjective observation, only this time one where the group agrees on its interpretation.

we are right and the other is wrong,

it’s always more helpful to accompany a “don’t do this” with an alternative behavior

it’s always helpful to involve the person concerned in the design of an appropriate response

He drew a circle that shut me out— Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in!